


Just Part of the Game

by literaryoblivion



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Croatoans, Eye Sex, Flirting, Gamer AU - Freeform, Hellhounds, M/M, Office, Vampires, Video & Computer Games, Weapons, Werewolves
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-03-11
Updated: 2013-04-30
Packaged: 2017-12-05 00:16:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 22,582
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/716689
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/literaryoblivion/pseuds/literaryoblivion
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sam, having known Dean his whole life, knew the difference between Dean’s fake flirting and Dean’s real flirting, and he’d cross the line into real flirting about a month ago. Dean could tell Sam knew he’d stepped in the “I may kind of like this dude that is fucking awesome at this game and whose voice I can’t get enough of but have never actually met” territory when Sam kept turning around to look at Dean while they were playing, giving him a look like he felt sorry for Dean and his unrequited love with his gaming buddy.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> If Sam/Gabriel (Sabriel) turns you off, just know it's really only hinted at and nothing more.

“How the fuck are you doing that!!?” Dean screamed into his microphone.

“Jus’ total trixter pwnage. Your ass is mine, Dean-o,” came the rather smug voice through his headset, a winky face coming through in the sidebar chat at the same time. 

“Gabriel you fuckin’ haxxor! I’m gonna fuck you up, you bitch!” Dean shouted again because Gabriel was an ass and this was the third time he’d killed one of his men, which Dean was pretty sure Gabe was doing on purpose just to see how Dean would react because on this mission they were supposed to be on the same fucking team.

Sammy sighed, loud enough to come through on the mic and for Dean to hear at the table next to him. “Dean, it’s just a g—“

In the headset, a barrage of gunfire sound effects, screams, and roars sounded.

“HEADSHOT” the computer voice played in their headphones.

Dean had turned his head to say something bitchy to Sam, but he snapped his head back to the screen. He stared in awe at the carnage that unfolded before him as the computer voice echoed.

“HEADSHOT”

“MONSTER KILL”

“HEADSHOT”

“How the fuck’s Cas doing that?!” Dean yelled again but more out of complete shock than anger. Sam said nothing because he too was stunned at the skill it had taken to take down the rugaru, which had been protected by various other enemies, they had all been trying to kill for the past 10 minutes.

Then a deep, almost monotone voice came through the line, “It’s really quite simple, Dean. I’d be happy to explain and demonstrate it to you later. It helped that you were causing a distraction with your argument with Gabriel though. So, thanks for that.”

Dean’s lips quirked up in a smirk. “No problem, babe.” Another winky face appeared on the sidebar this time from Dean. Dean turned the smirk towards Sam, but Sam rolled his eyes and shook his head.

“Ok guys,” said Sam, turning back towards his screen. “Since Cas finished the mission for us, I better call it a night. I have class tomorrow.”

“Ah, Sammy, you’re no fun. Stop pretending to be responsible and do one more. For me?” whined Gabriel in the headset, trying his best, in Dean’s opinion, to make it more annoying than usual.

“Gabe, no. It’s already 2 am, and I got a quiz to study for still,” answered Sam. “Sorry,” Sam added quickly because he really did want to keep playing, but last time he chose gaming over studying, he failed his quiz. He could not afford to have another grade like that.

“Yeah, it’s pretty late. Sammy’s right. Better call it a night guys,” said Dean already getting ready to close out the windows on his computer.

“Ugh, fine,” Gabriel said exasperatedly. “We’re still on for tomorrow’s raid though, right?”

“Of course,” answered Sam. “We’ll be on at 8. Night guys!” A little sound echoed through their ears, indicating Sam’s log off.

“Night,” repeated Gabriel, another sound reverberating as he logged off as well.

“Good night, Dean,” said Castiel, but no sound of him logging off followed. He was waiting for an answer.

Dean smiled. “Night, Cas.”

“Sleep well, Dean.”

“You too.” And then the same log off sound came through; Cas had signed off.

Dean closed out the game and removed his headphones, a small grin still plastered on his face. It disappeared though when he looked up to find Sam standing with his hands on his hips looking down at him like he was a mother looking at their silly child who didn’t understand something.

Dean scowled. “What?”

Sam shook his head, his floppy hair whipping his face as he did so, and walked to the kitchen. Dean followed him, going straight to the fridge for a beer. When he turned to face Sam and open the can, Sam raised his eyebrow.

“I’m off tomorrow. I switched shifts with Ash,” answered Dean in reply to the silent question from Sam, who nodded in satisfaction at the answer. “You gonna tell me what that look was just now?” Dean questioned after he took a sip of beer.

“Why don’t you just ask him already?”

“Ask what? Him who?”

Dean’s remark didn’t even merit an exasperated sigh or eye roll from Sam, but what it did merit was his signature bitchface. It was Dean’s favorite look, and he maybe said things on purpose just to get him to pull it because it made Sam look so damn funny.

“Dean. You know exactly what and who.”

“Ugh, Sam we’ve talked about this. Why ruin a good thing?”

“Because you like him, and if the silly emoticons and thinly veiled flirting are anything to go by, I’m pretty sure it’s mutual. Sometimes I think you two should just get your own private chat room.”

Dean shook his head because while yes _he_ was most definitely flirting, he was never really sure if what Cas was doing could be called flirting. Sometimes it just seemed like he was being helpful or just _really_ nice. And okay, maybe if Dean thought about it more, it did appear like Cas was only being nice and helpful to Dean and not to the other two, suggesting certain weapons or tactics that would be better for Dean, and no matter what the mission Cas always had his back even if they were supposed to be against each other.

Whenever they played the game, despite the four of them being a team, they usually would end up separating and breaking off into pairs, him and Cas, and Sam and Gabe, sort of a divide and conquer motto. Dean just assumed that because Sam and Gabriel were a thing—a thing he really didn’t want to think about because he just didn’t need or want to know the details of _that_ —that was why he ended up with Cas by default. Dean had to endure plenty of Gabe’s jabs and come-ons to Sam that part of him was trying to even things out, at least that’s what he had told himself when his cheeky comments to Cas started coming out more.

But, Sam, having known Dean his whole life, knew the difference between Dean’s fake flirting and Dean’s real flirting, and he’d cross the line into real flirting about a month ago. He could tell Sam knew he’d stepped in the “I may kind of like this dude that is fucking awesome at this game and whose voice I can’t get enough of but have never actually met” territory when Sam kept turning around to look at Dean while they were playing. It was usually after Dean had said something to Cas, and then Sam would look back, like an idiot because they were right in the middle of a battle and that was a good way to get his character killed, and give Dean a quizzical look. A look that at first seemed to wonder if he had heard that comment right, which quickly turned into a puppy dog, droopy eyes one like he felt sorry for Dean and his unrequited love with his gaming buddy. (As a side note, this was another signature face of Sam’s, and Dean _hated_ this one because it usually meant that he’d eventually give in to whatever Sam wanted. Dean was the older brother here, he wasn’t supposed to just acquiesce to Sam’s demands like he knew best; although they both knew Dean would and Sam did.)

And Dean was worried that this was going to happen because this always happened. He loved him, but sometimes Sam tried too hard to get Dean to be happy. In fact this is how they ended up in this whole situation in the first place, with Dean pining after some guy he’d never even met in real life.

About six months ago, Dean had just broken up with someone, meaning he didn’t have a place to live anymore since the now ex-boyfriend had the apartment in his name. Luckily, Sam’s roommate had gotten married and moved out a few weeks before, so Sam was more than willing to offer his place to Dean because while he might be getting a full ride for school it didn’t mean he could afford rent alone with the job he worked part-time. And since it’d been awhile since he’d actually been around his little brother longer than a family visit and he kind of missed the big dork, Dean accepted.

It wasn’t until a few months into living together (which was surprisingly easy with them falling into a routine like they’d always lived together) that Dean came home to discover Sam yelling at his computer screen, lost in concentration at what he was doing. When Dean took a peek to see that it was some shooter video game, Dean just kind of shook his head and moved on. Dean was more of a single-player person himself because he didn’t really like people and having to trust people he didn’t know that could be anyone on the other line kind of freaked him out a bit even if it was just a computer game.

But, it was too late because now that Dean knew about Sam’s gaming exploits, he was already begging Dean to join their guild because they could really use the help. Sam, ever the consummate lawyer, tried to emphasize the point by giving him a list of reasons why playing this game with him would be beneficial to both parties involved. It would help them with brotherly bonding; it would be fun and give them a break from the stresses of the day; it would get his mind off of Benny and distract him; he could make new friends that he wouldn’t have to worry about impressing because they just wanted to play the game; they would make sure that they only had people on their team that at least one of them knew (Sam knew about Dean’s trust issues). Finally Dean couldn’t take these reasons anymore and said fine and let Sam set up his account, telling Sam over his shoulder what to make his avatar look like.

Dean wasn’t the only one that Sam and his partner in crime Gabriel had recruited to join their ranks because Gabriel had apparently forced his cousin Castiel to sign up that same night as well. At the time Dean still hadn’t known Gabriel very well, just that Sam liked him and hung out with him a lot, and apparently played this game with him a lot. Sam always went over to Gabe’s when they hung out, so Dean had only met the man once when he had come to pick Sam up for something. That one time was enough for Dean and he was grateful Gabriel wasn’t hanging around their apartment all the time. Talking to him online in the game was enough, he didn’t need to deal with his shit in person too.

Sam said he had met Castiel once when he had been over at Gabe’s. Sam didn’t really know much about him except that he lived on the other side of town and while he and Gabriel weren’t exactly the best of friends, they were the only family they had for miles, so they kept in touch. Sam had said he thought Gabriel had gotten Castiel to sign up as a kind of good faith gesture, Gabriel’s attempt at bridging the gap between them so they’d get along better. When Dean had asked why they didn’t already get along, Sam had shrugged and said he wasn’t sure because Gabe didn’t like to talk about his family. Dean could understand, it wasn’t like his and Sam’s family was all that perfect either. It had been the reason Sam and Dean hadn’t seen a whole lot of each other before moving in together; they were both avoiding their dad and the mess of issues seeing him would bring up.

When it finally came time for them all to play together as a team for the first time, Gabriel had gotten on early to warn Dean and Sam that Castiel wasn’t really a gamer and that he was still learning how to play and to take it easy on him. Dean remembered being a noob once himself, so he kind of took it upon himself to help Castiel while they were playing. Castiel, as it turns out, was perfectly capable however, learning ridiculously fast and beating them all and earning more points that first game than the rest of them. Beginner’s luck they had all said, except for the fact that Castiel always ended up schooling them after every mission.

Dean was continually impressed with Castiel’s skills, and soon they had been trading tips and quips and eventually it had led to Dean giving him the nickname Cas and teasing him, which of course led to the flirting. But it wasn’t like it was one-sided because like Sam had pointed out, Cas dealt the teasing right back. Every time Sam had brought up the point when he had noticed that the bantering was nearing the flirty territory, Dean had waved him off saying it was just part of the game, it was all in fun, it meant nothing, really.

But now with Sam standing in front of him with his puppy-dog eyes, Dean couldn’t help but agree that yeah maybe it was something after all. And maybe Dean didn’t want to do anything about it because he was afraid of the reaction, afraid of rejection, afraid of giving his heart to someone again and having them stomp on it and throw it away.

Of course he didn’t say any of this to Sam, but he didn’t really have to. Sam knew about the circumstances of his previous relationship and understood how much of Dean had gotten damaged and hurt because of it.

“Look, all I’m saying is just think about it, okay? He seems like a really nice guy, and from what Gabe has told me, he’s a lot like you. You guys already get along in the game, it wouldn’t be that hard to transition to outside of it,” said Sam with a shrug.

“Yeah, okay. I’ll think about it. I’m going to bed. Good luck on your quiz. Don’t stay up too late, Sammy.” Dean finished off the rest of his beer, threw the bottle away, and gave Sam’s shoulder a pat as he left for his bedroom.

As he slid off his jeans and shirt and climbed into bed, Dean thought more about Cas and what Sam had said. If Sam was right about this being more than just friendly gaming banter, maybe he did have a chance and if he did ask Cas, he wouldn’t be rejected like he thought he would. But he was still scared and wasn’t sure if Sam really knew or was saying what he thought or worse what Gabe had told him. It wasn’t like he had solid proof that Cas liked Dean, and until he had evidence, Dean wasn’t going to do a damn thing. He was perfectly fine with continuing to play the game and exchange witty and slightly innuendo-filled retorts with Cas and then replay those conversations at night in his dreams, imagining what it would be like to hear that voice in his ear as he felt the hot breath that would accompany it. He had a very good imagination, and for now, this was enough for him.

*** 

Dean woke up to the sound of Sam slamming the front door shut behind him as he left for his class. He glanced at his alarm clock, noted that it was 10am, and seriously contemplated just staying in bed because he had the day off and he could. But as he lay there, his mind started to wander and think about all the reasons why he had taken today off. He had put off doing his laundry for far too long, and they were in desperate need of some real food. While Sam didn’t complain, man could not live on hot pockets and beef jerky alone, and Dean was the designated chef and grocery buyer and was falling down on the job.

At last deciding that if he got up now, he could get all those things done and still have time to squeeze in a little gaming practice before Sam got home, Dean arose to shuffle towards the bathroom to shower.

By three o’clock that afternoon, the fridge was full, the pantry was stocked, and one load of laundry was already done. Feeling pretty pleased, Dean rewarded himself by logging on to the game. There were a couple missions he could do solo to practice and level up his character, and so he set out to start on them. They would be pretty quick, and since he figured no one else would be on, he wouldn’t be bothered or distracted while he was playing.

However, while he was in the middle of the first mission, he heard the all too familiar sound of someone logging on. At first he was a little annoyed, focused on the game and refusing to look up at the top of his screen to see who it was because it was probably Gabe, and he’d rather not play with him. He hadn’t even thought about it being Cas because he figured Cas had some really important full-time job that he went to every day. Although now that he thought about it, he realized he didn’t actually know what Cas did. While they had played, they had exchanged little tidbits about themselves here and there, but Cas was always more reserved and tended to hold back on personal information, much like Dean did. Sam already knew plenty about him, and who knows what he told Gabe, so the less info Dean supplied Gabe with, the better. Who knew what that tricky bastard would do with the information?

Not that he wouldn’t be willing to share this information with Cas, though. They just hadn’t had the opportunity for him to do it without the listening ears of Sam and Gabe. Whenever he played, it was either all together, or Dean alone. He was sure that Sam and Gabe played missions just the two of them, and maybe they had Cas play with them too, although something told him that he doubted it. Cas didn’t seem like the type to willingly play third wheel to those two no matter how much he might enjoy playing the game. Dean wouldn’t want to either.

As he was nearing the end of his mission, a message appeared in the sidebar chat.

_Mr_Comatoss: Hello, Dean._

_D_Leet: Hey, Cas! Didn’t expect 2 c u online._

_Mr_Comatoss: I had some extra free time and thought I might see what else there is to play on here._

_D_Leet: That’s cool._

_Mr_Comatoss: Would you like to accompany me on a mission? Gabriel told me there are some that work better with two players._

_D_Leet: Sure thing, Cas. Let me finish up the 1 I’m in & then I’ll join u. ;)_

_Mr_Comatoss: Okay. I’ll just wait here, then._

Dean laughed, grateful his microphone wasn’t on, so Cas couldn’t hear him. He found it amusing that Cas always typed in the chat like he was writing a formal business letter. The guy was weird but it was oddly endearing. Dean went back to finishing the mission he was in as fast as he could, ignoring the flutter in his chest that he would actually soon be playing with just Cas. And if he had a sudden renewed motivation to kill everything in site so he could finish in record time so he could play with Cas sooner, he wouldn’t tell.

When the points were all in, he turned his mic and headset on.

“Hey, Cas, you there?” he said as he started to type the same message in the sidebar in case Cas’s headphones were turned off.

“Yes, Dean. I am. Did your mission go well?” Cas asked before Dean even finished typing. Dean deleted the message before answering.

“Uh yeah. It was good. Got a few more experience points and a new weapon.”

“Good job, Dean,” and Cas’s voice was surprisingly sincere.

“Uh, thanks, Cas. So, which mission did you want to do?”

“Well, Gabriel told me this one was fun when he and Sam played,” Cas said as his avatar moved on the screen to hover over one of the missions.

“Ok, sounds good to me. You ready?”

“Dean, I am always ready,” Cas replied, the cocky tone coming through in his voice just like he always had when he and Dean were bantering.

“Oh yeah, babe? We’ll just have to see about that,” said Dean, responding in kind, and secretly glad it was just he and Cas because their flirty-ness had never escalated this quickly before. And he kind of loved it.

They continued on like that for a few minutes, killing their enemies on site while they challenged each other to do better, a hint of coy-ness in each exchange just below the surface.

Once they had reached a roadblock in the mission, neither of them sure on how to proceed next, they agreed to take a little snack/bathroom break. They had been playing for three hours already, and Sam was due to waltz in the apartment in the next hour or so. Dean didn’t want his brother walking in on him and Cas. And okay so it wasn’t anything like that, but he’d never had so much fun before and he loved talking with Cas. But he knew that if Sam walked in, he’d be listening and Dean wouldn’t feel like he could keep up the level of shameless flirting he was dishing out now. Dean had actually blushed at some of things Cas had said to him, and it had become evident to him, finally, that maybe Sam had been right and that Cas liked him too. You don’t just tell another guy that you hope his ass looks just as great in person as it does on his avatar and consider it a friendly compliment.

Rushing back to the computer from the kitchen, a bag of chips in hand, he placed his headset back on.

“Hey, Cas. I’m back.”

“Excellent. Shall we continue? I think I may have an idea on how we can get past that wendigo.”

“Uh, actually. Before we get to that, can I ask you something?”

“Of course.”

Dean paused because he hadn’t really thought this through all the way and wasn’t really sure how to ask this guy he had never met if they could actually meet because it seemed as if they liked each other. So he decided to ask something else instead.

“If you’re not really a gamer, how’d you get to be so good at this?” Which alright, it wasn’t the question he desperately wanted to ask, but it had been something he had been curious about ever since that first day they had played as a guild.

Cas chuckled a little before answering. “I served in the military as a key strategist, and while I’ve never really played video games, the concepts are the same. It’s just like playing a simulation, actually.”

“Oh. Okay. That makes sense.” Then, Dean paused wondering if he should press Cas for more details because he didn’t want Cas to shut him out, not when he was actually getting to know about him. Well, he’d just have to find out. “So, are you not still in the military then?” Dean asked, willing his voice to remain composed.

“Uh, no. I’m—not any more. I’m working for a temp agency when they can have things for me until I can find something more permanent. I left because— The military didn’t—“ he paused, clearly deciding he didn’t want to get into this. “Yeah, anyway. I think that’s why Gabriel got me to join the game. Believed it wouldn’t be that difficult for me to figure out, and it’d give me something to do.”

“I understand. That’s pretty much the same reason Sam got me to join, too.”

“Really? Sam seems like a very nice person. It’s clear he cares about you. He couldn’t stop talking about how great his big brother was the one time I met him.”

Dean grinned and shook his head. “Ah, that kid, he’s crazy. He must have me confused with some other brother I don’t know about because I’m really not that great.”

“I wouldn’t say that, Dean. I think you are just as wonderful as Sam said you were.”

Dean’s eyes grew wide and his face flushed, and he thanked god that this game didn’t have a webcam chat because that would have been even more embarrassing. He felt like he was having some sort of panic attack, or a heart attack. Yes, that’s it. He could feel it, his heart clenching, something caught in his throat, and he didn’t know what to do. It was obvious he wasn’t having any sort of attack but he was letting the silence grow because he’d been too freaked to say anything in response, and he had to say something. Okay, this was it, now or never.

“Hey, um, Cas? Would you maybe like to meet in person like for coffee or drinks or something?”

And of course, it’d be just his luck that as soon as the words were flying out of his mouth was when Gabriel decided to log on to the game, his screen name appearing in the corner as the annoying chime echoed in the headphones. Dean had never hated a sound so much in his life.

“You guys started early without me? I’m hurt!” said Gabriel, mock disappointment clear in his voice.

“No, we—“ Dean started, but Cas interrupted him.

“I was just pointing out a few things Dean needs to work on before tonight’s mission,” Cas said, covering for both of them, which must have meant Cas felt the same way about Gabe’s prying as Dean did.

“Right. Thanks for the pointers, Cas,” he answered trying to be as calm about this as he could because Cas still hadn’t answered his question, and now he probably wouldn’t because of Gabe, and he needed to get off now before this situation got any worse.

“You are welcome, Dean,” Cas said, and he was like a cucumber, no hint in his voice at all at what he thought of Dean or his stupid question.

“So you guys want to play a few before the raid?” Gabe asked, not picking up on anything between Dean and Cas, again thank god that the game wasn’t webcam accessible.

“Uh, actually, Sam will be home soon, and I haven’t started dinner yet. Gotta be full to keep up our strength for the raid, you know,” said Dean knowing he sounded stupid but hoping at the mention of Sam, Gabe would let it go.

“I better eat something, too,” Cas echoed and then signed off.

“Okay, good idea. See you guys later then,” replied Gabe, signing off as well.

Awesome. Gabriel is the worst person ever. Dean had no idea what Cas was going to say, and now he’ll probably never know, and he can’t take it back, so it’s going to be all awkward between them. And now Cas was probably thinking about all the ways he could let Dean down gently and tell him meeting wouldn’t be a good idea, that he’s not interested.

But just as Dean was about to rage quit out of the game, the chimes rang in his ear again.

“Dean? Are you still there?” asked Cas, his voice almost frantic.

“Cas?”

“Oh, good,” Cas’s voice was filled with relief. “Gabriel’s gone, right?”

“Yeah, he logged off after you did. Uh, Cas, about what I asked earlier. I shouldn’t have… it was inappropriate to even suggest and I understand—“

“Shut up, Dean.”

Dean cleared his throat, an audible signal to Cas that he was shutting up and listening, and waiting, his heart pounding so loud in his chest he thought maybe Cas could hear it through the headset as well.

“I would love to met you in person. I was beginning to worry we’d never ask each other actually, but I’m… I’m very happy you asked, Dean.”

“Me too,” Dean beamed, and he knew Cas could hear the smile in his voice.

“I’ll message you my number. Oh, and Dean?”

“Yeah, Cas?”

“I hope you are prepared because you are going to get pwned tonight.”

Dean guffawed at Cas’s use of the word, “You wish, babe.”

“Better say your prayers before tonight’s raid; you’ll need all the help you can get.”

“Bite me, Cas.”

“Maybe later,” replied Cas and then he quickly added, “hopefully,” and signed off before Dean could even respond. Not that he could now because his imagination was already filling his head with scenarios of how he could make Cas’s statement come true.

Meeting Cas in person may in fact kill him, but he was more than okay with finding out.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When it finally came time for their raid that night, Dean ignored the excitement that grew in his chest as he logged on to find a private message from Cas containing his phone number. They had an important raid against another guild, and he couldn’t lose focus. He knew Cas would feel the same way, especially if the guy was ex-military. It probably came easy to him to push his personal thoughts and feelings aside for the sake of the mission. He didn’t even let a smile ghost across his face as he put the number in his phone because Sam was staring at him from across the room.

When it finally came time for their raid that night, Dean ignored the excitement that grew in his chest as he logged on to find a private message from Cas containing his phone number. They had an important raid against another guild, and he couldn’t lose focus. He knew Cas would feel the same way, especially if the guy was ex-military. It probably came easy to him to push his personal thoughts and feelings aside for the sake of the mission. He didn’t even let a smile ghost across his face as he put the number in his phone because Sam was staring at him from across the room.

“Quit messing with your phone, Dean; it’s almost time. We gotta go over the plan again.”

Dean waved him off. “Yeah, I know. Got it.” He slipped his phone back in his pocket and slid his headset on, catching Gabriel in mid-sentence.

“… and Cas is our point man, okay? He’s the best out of all us, and he’s the one that’s gotta do it. Got it, Cas?” asked Gabriel, and Dean had never heard Gabe’s voice so serious and commanding before. Usually he was sarcastic and sassy and joking about everything, but apparently as much as Sam tried to remind them all it was just a game, it didn’t seem like Gabe was remembering that fact at all.

“I understand, Gabriel,” answered Cas in the same firm tone. Well, looked like Dean was right. They were all taking this raid pretty seriously, which meant the fun and flirting with Cas earlier probably wouldn’t come out again tonight. That was fine with Dean. As much as he hid it from Sam, sometimes he got a little sucked into the game himself, and there was no way he could pretend tonight that he wasn’t going to be fully invested in winning. The raid tonight was against the Devil’s Advocates, and Dean was tired of the smarmy bastard Crowley and his minions and they had to be taken down a peg or two. And in Dean’s opinion, Team Free Win, the team name Dean had proudly coined himself, was just the guild to do it.

Technically, they were still supposed to be playing for themselves to earn points for their characters and play against each other, but they had all decided that to get what they really wanted, they were going to have to put that aside and work together. The game’s message board had blown up when the admins had announced a huge prize awaiting them past Hell’s Gate. They hadn’t said what it was, but the rumors were spreading ranging from an unlock code for a trove of weapons that had unlimited ammo and could kill anything to giving the victors special privileges in the game that would essentially make them invincible. Dean didn’t really believe the hearsay, but he either wanted whatever that prize was or to do everything in his power not to let the Devil’s Advocates get it.

The Devil’s Advocates were another local guild, and Dean had unfortunately met all of them in person once, when he had met Sam for lunch on campus one day. Apparently several of the Devil’s Advocates also attended the same college, and while Sam didn’t have any classes with them, they had just as bad a reputation in real life as they did in the game. You’d think that it’d be hard to tell who people were outside of the game, considering that everyone was just a screen name and an avatar that most times did not look like them, but no, not the Devil’s Advocates.

Why? Because the douchebags walked around in T-shirts with their guild name and logo plastered on them like they were the fucking T-Birds from Grease. Others not in the know just assumed it was some club they belonged to or, as Sam overheard once, a bowling league (which Dean almost died laughing about while trying to imagine the Devil’s Advocates in bowling shoes). But the gamers knew plenty well who they were and tried to avoid them at all cost inside and outside of the game. Of course, when your guild is just as awesome and as seen as a threat to the Devil’s Advocates, it’s kind of hard to avoid them.

***

Sam and Dean had been minding their own business at the on-campus café (that as it turned out had a delicious blueberry pie that Dean made Sam bring home for him at least once a week now after Dean had tried it). Sam had been in a weird, brotherly mood that day (Dean suspected it was either a class or Gabe was being his usual annoying self) and had called Dean up to ask to meet him for lunch. Dean had never seen the campus before, and he could sense that Sam would be incredibly upset if he declined, so he agreed.

It was while they were waiting for their orders that the Devil’s Advocates walked in, pompous stride, douche-y T-shirts and all. Dean could tell right away who they were not just by their stupid shirts but from the way Sam tensed up beside him when they walked in. Sam had told Dean about how he had let it slip to one of them, Ruby, that he played the game too, after he had recognized their logo (this of course was when Sam had first started playing and hadn’t realized how mean and horrible the Devil’s Advocates guild was). She seemed nice and flirty at first, all interested in helping Sam play the game, willing to show him the ropes. This was before he had met Gabriel, and she was pretty and paid him attention, which of course only meant trouble. Within two weeks, she had snookered him out of all of his weapons and ammo (promising that she had better ones she’d trade with him for, of course she never did), and when Sam had gone to the admins and message boards to complain, the admins couldn’t help and the other players warned him about the tyrants that were Ruby’s guild.

After that, Sam tried his best to stay clear of the whole lot. Luckily, only three of the six Devil’s Advocates went to college with Sam, which Dean was relieved about because one of them for sure looked like he could have been old enough to be his grandpa (not that grandpas can’t go to college, but it’s pretty rare they’d also be playing video games). But even though only half went to the school, apparently they all met up regularly on campus for guild meetings (and to terrorize innocent café patrons with their rudeness and matchy-ness). Which was probably why they were there now. Great.

All six of them strode up to the counter like they owned the place, and Ruby immediately recognized Sam, who had been trying to nudge Dean away from the counter and over to a table that was as far away as possible. But, it was too late.

“Hiya, Sam,” said Ruby, striding up to Sam as casual as if they were the best of friends. She flashed him a smile, and Sam winced involuntarily. Dean might not have gotten the full physical description of Ruby from Sam (or how much she had hurt him and not just in the game), so he wasn’t quite sure who this chick was, but he could tell Sam was uncomfortable, which made Dean instantly on the defensive. Dean got his answer when his brother, genuinely nice to a fault sometimes, answered her.

“Um, hi, Ruby,” replied Sam in almost a whisper like it was taking everything in him to be nice.

“Who’s your friend?” Ruby asked nodding at Dean and then looking at him like she wanted to eat him. And on anyone else Dean might have found that hot, but on Ruby it made Dean sick.

“This is my brother, Dean,” Sam answered, turning back to gesture to Dean at the same time he gave Dean a pleading, “I don’t want to be here” look.

Ruby seemed more pleased with the information Sam just provided and took a step toward Dean, her hand extended in front of her. Again, on any other occasion with anyone else, he would have turned on his charming smile and accepted her hand. But as she stood in front of him with her deceptive smile and Sam’s visible discomfort beside him, Dean stared down at her hand and then back up at her, his face flat and uncaring.

Taking the hint, Ruby’s face fell and she slowly dropped her hand. But, just as quickly, her smile was plastered back on her face. “Nice to meet you, Dean.” All Dean did was grunt back and give a brief nod. Just as Ruby was about to say something else, the rest of her group walked up behind her.

“Now, now, Ruby, don’t keep your friends all to yourself,” said a man behind her in a low voice with a notable British accent. He was wearing the same logo-ed T-shirt as Ruby and the others beside him, and across the left breast pocket there was a name embroidered on it, ReD_KingOfHell, which Dean then noted that all of the others had a name, their screen name obviously, on their shirts as well. How precious. “Does this moose and squirrel have a name?”

“Uh, this is Sam and his brother Dean,” answered Ruby, who even though she had her smile on, it was more of a tense one as if she didn’t like this British dude as much as Dean didn’t like her, and Dean almost felt sorry for her. Almost.

“Well hello, boys. Forgive Ruby’s rudeness, I’m Crowley,” he said, nodding to Sam and Dean, not even bothering to offer his hand. “Let me introduce you to the rest of the gang,” he said as he gestured to the others behind him who shuffled up closer to them.

Dean made a note of each of their embroidered names as Crowley introduced them all. There was a tall, gangly fellow named Alastair (WeD_Ripper), the grandpa (which Dean realized as he got closer he didn’t look that old but clearly the guy didn’t age well) whose name was Azazel (YeD_MasterPlan), a thin blonde woman named Lilith (WeD_66Seals), and a short brown-haired girl named Meg (BeD_Rebelw-oCauz). Then of course Ruby, whose screen name was BeD_Stiletto. Out of all of them, Meg looked the least likely to be a part of the group. She stood off to the side, and when Crowley pulled her forward to introduce her, she looked absolutely miserable. Clearly even in their own guild, there was tension.

Dean was getting a little tired from all the fake niceties that Crowley was putting on, and luckily after the introductions were made, Dean and Sam’s order was ready. Sam spoke for his brother and said it was nice to meet them (which Dean did not agree with, but Sam had to see these people on campus all the time so he wasn’t going to make waves) and then grabbed their food and Dean to get as far away from them as possible. As they had made their way out of the café, Ruby called out a “See ya around Sam!” to which Sam only hummed and lifted his hand in the air not even turning around to face her. Dean didn’t ask for more information about what really happened between he and Ruby while they ate, which Sam seemed grateful for. Instead Dean asked about classes and told him a funny story about how Ash had practically electrocuted himself at work, causing his mullet to be all party instead of just in the back.

***

Ever since that initial meeting, Dean has recognized all of the Devil’s Advocates screen names on the message boards and in the game, causing trouble and being complained about constantly by other users. A few of the users have suspected that one of them, probably Crowley, has some sort of inside man or connection to one of the admins of the game because their guild always seems to end up with the most weapons and gets access to new areas first, which game or not is unfair. So when the announcement had come about this prize behind Hell’s Gate, Dean figured they’d soon be hearing the Devil’s Advocates bragging all about it. However, the Devil’s Advocates complained right along with everyone else about how they couldn’t get past the invisible hell hounds at the gate, and how the hell were they supposed to fight or kill something they couldn’t even see? After seeing the Devil’s Advocates finally not getting something immediately and on the same fair playing field as everyone else, Dean had been pleased. Gabriel, however, decided to take it one step further and issued the Devil’s Advocates a public challenge on the main message board. Because apparently he had a virtual death wish.

And this was the reason why all four of them were sitting in their respective apartments, headsets on, eyes glued to their computer screens, on a Friday night. Gabriel had given the Devil’s Advocates a week to accept the challenge, and of course it only took them a day to respond, with them in turn giving Team Free Win a time and in-game place to meet. All the other users wished TFW luck, some even offering their ammo and weapons because they too wanted to see the DAs shut down. Others told them they were crazy, that they should give up now because there was no hope for them. And Dean was even sure he saw a post that was a betting pool of game coins, which he later noted had been started by Gabe, of course.

“If they don’t show up or make us wait here so they can go off ahead, I’m going to be pissed,” said Gabe, the impatience already evident in his voice. TFW had agreed to meet the DAs at 8:30, and according to the clock, it was 5 till. The DAs still had time, but Dean wouldn’t put it past them to do something like that. Dean had been playing the game long enough that he had gotten very familiar with the lying cheating ways of Crowley and his band of demons. But even though Gabe had every right to worry about them tricking them, Dean was more worried about when they actually came face to face with them. Despite how great of a guild TFW was and how fucking boss Cas was at the game, the Devil’s Advocates still had six people while Team Free Win just had four. Math was not in their favor, and Dean was worried that by that fact alone, they might not even have a chance of stopping them, let alone beating them to the prize.

Finally, 8:30 rolled around, and out of the shadows appeared four of the avatars of the Devil’s Advocates. It didn’t take long for the trash talking to appear in the public chat room.

_ReD_KingOfHell: Surprised u forest rodents decided 2 show up_

_Trixxt33r: Could say the same 4 u asshat_

_WeD_Ripper: Asshat? Rly? That’s the best u got?_

_Trixxt33r: Wouldn’t want 2 give u my best upfront. Don’t want 2 spoil the main course_

_Samoose: Don’t u guys have 2 others?  2 scared & bailed on u?_

_YeD_MasterPlan: They were busy_

_BeD_Stiletto: Unlike u lsers some of us have lives outside of the game_

_D_leet: This from the person who is playin the game right now_

_Trixxt33r: LOL_

_BeD_Stiletto: Shove it asshole_

_Mr_ComaTOSS: Are we actually going to play the game, or are we going to keep chatting?_

_ReD_KingOfHell: U pets should listen to ur owner, he has a point._

_Trixxt33r: Agreed._

_WeD_Ripper: Yes, I gotta party 2 go 2 in 30 min_

_D_Leet: U rlly think u’ll b done that fast? Cocky much?_

_WeD_Ripper: O if u only knew…_

_BeD_Stiletto: shut up rip_

_Trixxt33r: let’s get on w/ this. Every 1 clear on the terms?_

_ReD_KingOfHell: Attacks on each other allowed whenever, ultimate goal is past Hell’s gate, 1st person 2 claim prize decides what the punishment 4 opposing guild is. Am I missing nething mother?_

_Trixxt33r: No smartass, looks like we’re in agreement. May the best guild win._

_ReD_KingOfHell: O we plan 2._

_Samoose: U wish._

It seemed Dean’s fears were all for naught. They were evenly numbered, and the fact that Crowley and the other three actually showed up on time at their meeting place was equally surprising. As much as Dean thought that meant he could relax a little, he couldn’t help but feel like it was all an act and that there was something much worse in store for them later on. He hoped that maybe, even though Crowley and Ruby most definitely had proven themselves to be conniving and deceitful cheaters, maybe they were actually taking this challenge and this prize seriously, since they were going to have to work at getting it. Of course it was possible (and highly likely) that they were just lulling Team Free Win into a false sense of security, leading them to believe that they were going to play fair, only to pull the rug out from beneath them when they weren’t expecting it. In fact, this was probably exactly what they were doing.

“Uh, should we be worried that they are walking the opposite direction of Hell’s Gate?” asked Sam while he guided his avatar closer to the other three.

“Probably,” answered Dean.

“Let’s just stick to the plan,” responded Gabriel.

Cautiously, all four of them walked their avatars towards Hell’s Gate to the first roadblock on the journey: A vampire nest. As they got closer, they could hear the hissing of the vampires, and soon the vampires started pouring out of their hiding place, fangs exposed.

“Ok, Dean, you’re up,” said Sam as he shuffled through his weapons for the syringes of dead man’s blood. Dean was the designated vamp slayer, and while all of them would help kill as many vamps as they could, Dean had a way with his machete that was unmatched by the rest of the team.

As Dean beheaded vamp after vamp, the others tried their best with the weapons they had to destroy stragglers that had gotten past Dean’s blade. Once the coast was clear, they regrouped just past the now empty nest.

“Still no sign of them, huh?” asked Gabriel, a clear note of worry in his tone.

“Nope,” said Sam.

“Is there another way to Hell’s Gate that we are not aware of?” asked Cas.

“Could be, or they’ve cheated their way to it,” replied Dean as his avatar slid his blade back into its holster.

“Something’s fishy, and I don’t like it,” uttered Sam through the headset, turning around to give his brother a look of concern. Dean nodded his agreement.

“Oh well, can’t do anything about it now. Come on, the city is just ahead,” said Dean, walking his character ahead of the group in the direction of the cluster of buildings in the distance. The rest followed him.

As far as Team Free Win knew, there was only one way (without a hack) to get to Hell’s Gate, and they had worked together all week to figure out what they would be up against and who was the best man for each obstacle. There were three roadblocks and sets of monsters you had to kill before you even got to the hell hounds surrounding Hell’s Gate. Now that they had taken care of the first, well Dean had taken care of it, the next was to get through the abandoned desolate city that also happened to be crawling with Croatoans, disgustingly fast zombies that sent your character back to home-base if they bit you.

Unfortunately, they had used their one teleportation module on their first run through to bypass the city and hadn’t been able to find or earn another one in time for the raid. So, they were going to have to go through the city the hard way. Fortunately, Gabriel was the Croatoan expert, and he knew which parts of the city to avoid, and more importantly when to run. It would be a waste of ammo and time to try to stop and kill all of the Croats that would come to attack them because it would never end. The best strategy was to book it and kill whichever ones came close. Having finally reached the edge of the city, Gabe led them through, right down the middle where they all had the best visibility of their surroundings.

Dean still didn’t feel comfortable walking out in the open like this, not because they were vulnerable and exposed to any Croats, but because they still hadn’t seen any members of the Devil’s Advocates and that was more worrisome to Dean than any Croats. Where the hell were they, and what were they planning? Dean decided not to voice his thoughts on the headset, so as not to distract his compadrés, but he could tell by the fact none of them were talking as they continued through the city that they shared the same silent fear. All four of them tried their best to guide their characters as silently and gingerly through the city as possible. Croats only swarmed when they heard noises, and if they could just get through the city without making any, then they might not have to worry about the Croats at all.

It was when they approached the city square, which was near half-way through the city, that the radio silence was broken. “Gabe, have you ever gotten this far into the city without seeing any Croats?” asked Sam in a whisper, which really why was he whispering it’s not like they were actually in the game.

“Negativo, Sammy. But, I don’t want to say anything because it might jinx us,” answered Gabe, thankfully not as soft as Sam.

“Too late,” answered Castiel, “I don’t remember Croats having the ability to scale walls,” he uttered spinning his avatar so the others could see what he was pointing out. To their left, there were two bodies perched on the side of the tall buildings, something glinting in each of their hands. Dean moved his cursor to zoom in because he was positive Cas was right. And as the pixels cleared and he got a better view, he realized why they had gotten so far without so much as a mangled body in their path. Because those definitely weren’t Croats on the building.

“Ahh, shit,” muttered Dean, right when Ruby’s avatar threw whatever was in her hands right at them, with Azazel’s avatar following suit.

Two successive explosions echoed in their headsets, the flames flashing behind them, bringing with them a swarm of Croats.

“Time to run, fellas!” shouted Gabe, and they didn’t have to be told twice. The team moved faster through the city, jumping over debris and barricades and trying to dodge the rainstorm of explosives that Ruby and Azazel were throwing their way. With every loud detonation, it brought more and more Croats. On the top corner of the screen, Dean could see Ruby and Azazel jumping from building to building, following them; when he looked again a few moments later though, he only saw Azazel.

“Hey, did any of you catch where the fuck Ruby went?” Dean asked through his mic, looking over to Sam for any kind of visual response, like a shrug or something. Um, big mistake.

Right when he turned his head forward again, his screen went white from a bomb that went off in front of him, the sound almost deafening in his headphones. “SHIT FUCKING DAMN IT!”

“Dean!? What happened?” yelled Cas through his headset.

BOOM!

 “I’m fi—“

KA-BOOM!

“Well, I think I know where Ruby went,” muttered Sam. Dean switched camera views and panned out so he could get an aerial view. Gabriel was only about six blocks from the edge of the city doing his best to stand his ground against the Croats surrounding him. Sam was close behind him a block or so away in much the same predicament as Gabe, fending off Croats that converged on his spot. He and Cas were farther back, closer to the square than to the edge, only separated from each other by a few blocks, and while Dean was grateful he wasn’t trapped with a bunch of Croats, he was still trapped. Several buildings had collapsed from the bombs, and there wasn’t an immediate exit anywhere around him. And from the looks of things, the rest of his team was in the same predicament, surrounded by rubble and on their own.

“That bitch! She’s fuckin’ separated us,” shouted Dean.

“No fucking duh, genius,” said Gabe.

“You know, what—“

“Guys,” interrupted Sam before Dean said anything more, “how about we figure out how to get out of this instead of argue about it.”

“Sam is correct. That would be the best use of our time, _Gabriel_ ,” said Castiel, emphasizing Gabriel’s name with a voice of exasperation, which kind of made Dean happy that Cas was taking his side and blaming Gabe for the argument.

Dean sighed, “Look, Gabe, you and Sam are closer to the edge, and Cas it looks like you could probably go through the building on your left to meet up with them. I’m pretty much stuck, and there’s no other way out except to go back to the square. You guys go on ahead, and I’ll try to catch up.”

“No, Dean,” Cas said, his voice firm. “We’re not leaving you to fend off the Croats by yourself.”

“Cas, it’s fine. I already did my part with the vamps. You don’t really need me except for backup.”

“ _Dean_ ,” Cas’s voice increased in volume.

“Cas, I will be fine, babe. It’s stupid for you to wait for me to get out, when you could be that much closer to the gate.”

“ _Dean_. I am _not_ leaving you.” And no, Dean was not feeling remotely tingly about the way Cas said that at all because this was just a game. Or how he could tell it wasn’t Cas saying it because he thought they should stick together as a team but that it was because Cas didn’t want to do this without Dean, specifically. Nope, he wasn’t feeling any slight stuttering of his heart.

“Ugh would you two end your lover’s quarrel already, I can only hold off Croats for so long here,” said Gabe.

“I’m going to Dean; Sam, you get to Gabe and help him and try to get out of the city. I’ll use my angel wave to blast a hole through the rubble so Dean and I can get out and meet you there,” said Castiel like that was the end of the matter and he would hear no other arguments to the contrary.

“But, Cas, the rubble is thick; it’ll make you use up all your angel mojo.”

“I don’t care. I can power up later.”

“Cas, you need it for—“

“Dean. Shut. Up. I am almost to where you are anyway, so you’ll just have to fucking deal with me rescuing you like the damsel in distress that you are.”

Sam and Gabriel guffawed, and Dean could have argued, would have, but it was Cas and well he _was_ pretty trapped. “Does that make you my knight in shining armor, honey?” Dean said instead.

“Yes,” Cas answered flatly as his avatar appeared next to Dean’s.

“Does this mean I have to give you a token of my gratitude, now?” asked Dean while he waited for Cas’s angel wave to fully charge before he let it burst through the steel and cement in front of them.

“I believe it does, yes, and I have a few ideas.” Cas let his wave go, hurtling debris away and clearing a path to where Sam and Gabe were still killing Croats but slowly making their way to the edge of the city.

“Baby, not in front of the kids,” said Dean as he and Cas fought side by side, killing any Croats that crossed their path.

“Yeah really, I am young and innocent and don’t want to hear it,” said Sam.

“Come on, now Sammy, you and I both know you’re not _that_ innocent,” replied Gabe, and his tone was one that Dean _did not_ want to hear being used with his little brother. Thankfully, he and Cas had made it to Sam and Gabe by then and outside of the city away from the Croats, which meant their mission, although delayed, was back on.

“So, we figured out part of their plan,” said Sam as the group walked further down the path.

“Yeah, but that was just two of them. Where were the other two?” asked Dean.

“I’m betting we’ll find out soon enough. One more stop before hell, ladies!” Gabe said cheerily.

The last thing and only way to Hell’s Gate was through a cave that was home to a vicious pack of werewolves. This particular obstacle had taken the better part of 2 hours for TFW to figure out when they had ventured toward Hell’s Gate the first time. They had come across werewolves in the game before, of course, but never a whole pack of them, and never a pack with an alpha, which they quickly learned was the problem. With every werewolf they killed, the alpha just created more (which where he was getting this unlimited supply of humans to turn into wolves or making werewolf babies was one of those weird in-game plot holes everyone decided to overlook).

It wasn’t until Sam, always the quick one, realized that only one of the werewolves had different colored eyes than the rest of them, that they had finally killed that one, which stopped the creation of more of them so they could move onward. And that was how Sam had wound up as the werewolf slayer.

Finally at the mouth of the cave, the group, their silver blades at the ready, ventured in. There were already several dead and bleeding werewolf bodies scattered at the mouth of the cave, which meant the Devil’s Advocates had already gotten through and were probably already at Hell’s Gate trying to figure out how to get in. Or not. Maybe they were just waiting there at the gate until TFW figured out how to get past the hounds for them. TFW hadn’t gone through the cave right after someone else had before, and if the bodies were still there, maybe the DAs had done them a favor and they could just breeze right on through the cave no problem.

If only.

As the group turned the corner, they came face to face with a pack of at least 40 snarly, drooling werewolves, their various colored eyes glowing in the darkness of the cave.

That’s right, many different colored eyes.

“Crowley that fucking haxxor asshole!” shouted Dean because how the hell was Sam supposed to tell which one was the Alpha now?

“Damn it, he must have hacked into the game code. That is so illegal!” complained Sam.

“That’s it. When this is over with, I don’t care if I have to fuckin’ walk into the fucking game headquarters and talk to the fucking creator himself in person, I am getting them all banned from the fucking game,” said Gabe. Dean repressed a chuckle; Gabe only peppered his sentences with curses when he was well and truly pissed off, and whenever it happened, it made Dean picture him red-faced with steam coming out of his ears, which was a humorous mental image.

“There must be something that still distinguishes the alpha from the others; it just might take us longer to recognize,” said Cas, always the voice of reason.

“Well, you heard him, keep an eye out,” said Dean as the group converged on the werewolves, each of them stabbing and hacking with their silver blades to kill the monsters.

While they fought, Sam tried to pick up any signs of which of the werewolves could be the alpha because for every one they killed, two more would appear from the shadows. They had to find the source, or they’d be stuck in this cave covered in werewolf blood forever. It wasn’t until Sam had been knocked down to the ground by a particularly difficult werewolf to kill that he noticed there was one who stayed towards the back of the pack, and as he stabbed the one on top of him, staring into its eyes as it closed, he realized who the alpha was. Even though all the wolves had various colored eyes, the one wolf that hung back still had the only color that wasn’t repeated in the others.

“Found the alpha!” shouted Sam. “Dean, cover me.”

“Aye aye, Sammy,” Dean said as he made his way over to Sam’s character, slaughtering any wolves that attacked them on their way to the alpha.

It didn’t take long for Sam to get to the alpha and plunge his silver blade in its heart. After Sam had taken care of him, Gabe and Cas had no problem getting rid of the rest of the werewolves that were left standing. They jumped over the piles of bodies to greet the light on the other side of the cave. Just a little further was the dark looming spikes of Hell’s Gate, and off to the side they could see all four of the Devil’s Advocates standing, waiting for something.

“This is it, boys,” said Gabriel, “let’s beat those evil sons of bitches. Well and one bitch. Castiel, you know what to do.”

Without a word, Castiel’s character stepped forward into the light and walked down the path to the gate, the rest of the team taking his lead and following. Dean had every confidence in Cas and knew that if anyone could get past the hell hounds, it’d be Castiel. On their run-throughs, it was Cas who had noticed the pattern with the hell hounds. Even though they were completely invisible, the hounds still left tracks on the ground, claw marks in the dirt, and after Gabriel had blasted them with his freeze ray, which didn’t freeze them but did make the temperature colder, their breath was a visible fog in the chill. With these signs, Castiel picked up on their roaming pattern and had found a window that would let him get through. Unfortunately, they had all run out of ammo, and Gabriel’s freeze ray was out of power by the time he had figured it out, so they couldn’t go forward. This time, however, Gabriel’s freeze ray was completely charged, and they had all saved up as much ammo as they could to use not only against the hell hounds but against the Devil’s Advocates.

As Team Free Win approached the Devil’s Advocates at the gate, a very recognizable, low British voice echoed in their ears.

“So you boys got past all my little traps, huh?” said Crowley.

“How—Crowley? How the _hell_ are you even talking to us?” shouted Sam, completely flabbergasted that he was hearing Crowley’s voice. That was impossible; their guild was on a private line with each other.

“Really, moose? You saw what I did to the cave, did you really think I couldn’t hack into your chat line?” the arrogant smirk evident in his voice.

That was just fucking fantastic. With Crowley listening in, there was no way they could talk to each other without the other guild knowing their every move. Good thing Gabriel had drilled them on the plan over and over again beforehand, or they might as well call it quits now.

“That is cheating and illegal not just in the game. Better cherish your time in the game while you can because you won’t be playing it much longer. Or any other for that matter,” said Castiel as more of a fact than a threat. And Dean could practically kiss him because when Cas got all matter of fact like that, it was hot.

“Oh I’m so scared,” said Crowley flatly. “I have friends in high places. I’m not worried.” And Crowley sounded mostly confident, except for the slight upraise of his voice on the word “worried,” which only proved that he was.

“Are you just going to talk us to death?” asked Gabriel, his avatar already wandering away and getting closer to the hell hounds at the gate.

“I thought maybe you’d like to make a deal,” answered Crowley.

“With you? I’d give up all my experience points and ammo before I’d even consider working with you,” said Dean, noticing that Castiel’s avatar was slowly edging his way to the gates with Gabriel, Crowley seemingly unaware of the subtle movements of their characters.

“That can be arranged…”

“What do you want Crowley? Worried you’re going to lose? Cause you should be,” said Sam as he picked up his cell phone and waved it at Dean, so he’d pull his out.

Dean retrieved his phone from his pocket and on the screen was a text:

_Sammy: Keep him talking. Gabe texted. He & Cas R going thru w/ the plan_

Dean nodded to Sam in understanding and went back to his screen.

“You wish, gigantor. I was just giving you morons the chance to work with us. I was even willing to offer you some of the prize.”

“Never going to happen, assbutt,” said Cas, which although it was very admirable of him, he probably shouldn’t have said anything because when he did Crowley and the others noticed that his avatar was incredibly close to the gate.

Crowley sighed, “We weren’t done chatting. And we were having such a nice conversation, too. That’s just too bad. Your loss.” Crowley and his guild pulled out all manner of weapons and descended upon Team Free Win.

It was a free for all. Sounds of clashing swords and bullets firing became a constant buzz in their headsets, but the time for chit chat was over. There was no need for Team Free Win to talk anymore, so Crowley could listen in all he wanted, he wasn’t going to figure it out that way. All Dean and Sam had to do was battle the DAs long enough and distract them to give Gabe and Cas time to latch on to the pattern of the hounds so Cas could find and take the opening. Sam was taking on Ruby and Azazel, a constant stream of bombs and knives hurtled in their direction. Dean had the other two. He had managed to damage Crowley’s armor enough that he was able to weaken his avatar with a few critical stabs, which made Crowley unable to move just yet. But Alastair was definitely getting the better of him. He had Dean pinned to the ground and was slowly cutting away at Dean’s limbs, only lowering his health bar little by little, like he had all the time in the world. Sam noticed his struggle and threw a bomb in their general direction, which created enough of a diversion for Dean to kick Alastair off of him and stab him in the back, forcing him to lay there till his health bar recharged. He panned over to the gates, and could tell that Cas almost had it, his character hovering and moving forward every now and then, with Gabe blasting his freeze ray every few seconds. They were so close!

Crowley, fully recovered now, lunged at Dean, pummeling him in the face, which was rather useless since weapons did more damage, but maybe Crowley was too irate to be thinking logically at this point.

Then, Gabriel started laughing.

“What’s so funny?” shouted Crowley, stopping his beat down of Dean, everyone else following suit to find out why Gabriel was laughing. Dean though, already knew, and he just smiled.

Cas’s avatar was standing on the other side of the gate, looking completely unharmed from any hell hounds.

“How did— How could— What?” screamed Crowley.

“You can take your deal and shove it where the sun don’t shine,” Gabriel jeered.

“I didn’t want to have to do this, but you cretins leave me no choice. If we can’t get the prize, no one can,” said Crowley.

And before anyone could protest or ask what the hell that was supposed to mean, Dean’s screen went black.

“What the fuck?” yelled Dean, looking over at Sam’s computer, whose screen was also black.

“Did he seriously just shut down our computers?” asked Sam, pressing every combination of buttons on his keyboard in the hopes that it would bring his screen back to life. Dean tried the same on his computer to no avail. Begrudgingly, he knelt down and unplugged it and plugged it back in.

“ _Don’t cha wish your girlfriend was hot like me. Don’t cha wish your girlfriend—“_

Sam scrambled for his phone. “Gabe! You changed the ringtone again!” Dean rolled his eyes as Sam put the phone on speaker and set it on the desk so he could go back to messing with his computer.

“Oh, Sammy, you love it. So, your guys’ comps dead, too?”

“Yes. Mine looks like it’s rebooting though.”

“Mine, too,” said Dean from across the room.

“I called Cas, and he said he got his powered back up, but he can’t get back into the game.”

“That no good rotten cheating snake,” muttered Sam.

“Wow, Sam, I’ve never heard you use such language. Well, not outside of the bedroom anyway,” said Gabe. Dean groaned in disgust.

“Gabe, you’re on speaker,” said Sam, his voice scandalized and embarrassed.

“Oh I know. That’s why I said it,” Gabe chirped back. “Oh hey, I can log on, just a minute.”

Dean and Sam sat in silence a moment, staring at Sam’s phone on the desk as they could hear Gabe’s typing on the other line.

“Well?” Dean asked after hearing a muffled “damn it” and a thud from Gabe.

“All there is when you get on is their standard maintenance notice apology. I was able to get to the main board, and it looks like the game is shut down for everyone indefinitely. No word from the admins yet,” replied Gabe.

“Crowley shut down the whole game? Geez, talk about a sore loser,” said Sam.

“Awesome,” Dean said flatly, “We finally get past the hounds, and Crowley decides to pitch a hissy fit about it like a whiny bitch.” Dean sighed.  “I’m going to bed.” Dean got up from his chair to walk to the kitchen.

“I’ll keep checking on the game, but I get the feeling it’s going to be awhile before it’s back online,” said Gabriel.

“Yeah, okay, thanks, Gabe. I’ll call you tomorrow.”

“Good night, schnookums,” answered Gabe teasingly. Sam chuckled and shook his head.

“Night, Gabe.” Sam ended the call and shuffled into the kitchen where Dean was getting a glass of water. “Sorry.”

“For what?” asked Dean.

“I don’t know, for Gabe I guess?” said Sam with a shrug.

“It’s fine, Sam. It’s not like I don’t know you guys are together.”

“I know. I just… I guess I didn’t want you to get…” Sam paused as if searching for the right word, the one that would be the least offensive.

“What? Uncomfortable? Jealous?”

“I didn’t say that.”

“You didn’t have to, and you don’t need to worry about it. I mean, I don’t want to think about it for too long, but as long as you and Gabe are happy, I’m happy.” Dean finished off his water and put his cup in the sink.

Sam smiled, looking a little less embarrassed about his exchange with Gabriel. “It’s probably good the game’s offline. I have a test next week.” Suddenly, Sam’s brow furrowed, his lips in a small frown. “So I guess with the game shut down, you won’t be able to talk to Cas.”

“Yeah, guess so.”

“I could ask Gabe for his number for you if you want,” offered Sam.

“Nah, it’s fine. I’m sure the guy’s busy. But you’re right, it’s probably good we can’t play. I’ve got a major install this week, so I’ll probably be working overtime.” Sam nodded and then yawned.

“Good night, Dean,” Sam said as he padded off to his room. Dean grunted a “night” back and shut off all the lights.

Once he was cozy in his bed, Dean pulled out his phone, eternally grateful to his past self for putting Cas’s number in his phone before the whole mess with Crowley happened. He opened a new text message to Cas and began typing.

 _Dean:_ _Hey! This is Dean._

Within seconds, Dean received a reply.

_Cas: Hello, Dean._

_Dean: So, about that token of gratitude… what exactly did you have in mind?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Because there was such an OVERWHELMING demand for more, that one-shot has now turned into a much bigger/longer story. This chapter is full of gaming goodness, so I hope you enjoy it. And don't worry, Dean and Cas WILL be meeting... very soon. 
> 
> However, I make no promise as to WHEN I will be posting their meeting because I'm still writing it and working on it, and I don't know when I will finish.
> 
> BUT feel free to ask me questions, bug me, or get updates on [my tumblr](http://literaryoblivion.tumblr.com/)!


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He and Dean had ended up texting well into the night and that whole weekend as well. Dean and Cas exchanged questions and answers. At first the questions were innocent like favorite foods and movies, but by Sunday evening the subject matter was a little more serious like hopes and fears… and desires. And by that question, Castiel, who was already in bed ready to sleep, couldn’t sleep after that. Not until he texted Dean back not asking, but telling him that they needed to meet in person ASAP. Dean had replied with a “LOL. Ok baby. How’s Wednesday night?” When Cas texted “Time? Place?” back, Dean did not disappoint.

On Monday morning, Castiel awoke bright and early, which was normal for him, but instead of just piddling around his apartment or reorganizing his personal library for the third time, he actually had somewhere he had to be. The temp agency had found him another job for the next two weeks, and although it sounded incredibly boring and monotonous (some kind of data entry job), it was a job. Castiel was just grateful it meant he wouldn’t be stuck at home uselessly filling out endless job applications that he was grossly overqualified for and sending his resume out into the cyber abyss with no hope of anything ever coming from it.

He wouldn’t say he missed the military, but it was a steady paycheck, a routine he was used to, and what he had thought going in was a secure lifetime appointment. Of course that was when he was just following in his father’s footsteps without question, before he realized he had a mind of his own and that mind didn’t like taking orders, at least not when he thought they were wrong. But, for a while he pretended, moved his way up in the ranks, pleasing everyone but himself, until something snapped him out of it. Well, more like someone, but Castiel didn’t like to think about him because it hadn’t ended well.

Obviously, since Castiel was now working temp jobs instead of in uniform and very much alone.

Castiel tried to remind himself that wasn’t true. He had Gabriel, who wasn’t exactly his favorite family member, but he had been one of the only ones to still talk to him after he had been forced to resign from the service. It was a big reason why he had chosen to move to the same town. The rest of his family had written him off, and the one who hadn’t, like his sister Anna, lived in Europe, and he wasn’t about to move to a foreign country with no money. So, Gabriel had quickly become a friend instead of just the cousin he had only seen every five years at reunions.

In large part, he had Gabriel to thank for what was turning out to be… something between himself and Dean. Cas didn’t really know what it was, but it was definitely more than just friendship. And surprisingly, Cas was okay with that despite his rather unfortunate and somewhat depressing history when it came to relationships. He was grateful Dean had asked him to meet because Cas had been too scared to ask first. Gabriel had already given him Dean’s number (he’d “borrowed” Sam’s phone and copied the number from it and sent it to Cas with the message “Just do it already. He’ll say yes if he knows what’s good for him,” which Castiel had appreciated but was definitely not going to follow through with).

So after the whole debacle with the game, Cas was worried it’d be even longer before they would actually get to meet. But, once Cas had received a text from Dean (from the number he had already saved in his phone two weeks before), Cas was more than pleased. He might even go as far as to say he was giddy? He and Dean had ended up texting well into the night and that whole weekend as well. Dean and Cas exchanged questions and answers. At first the questions were innocent like favorite foods and movies, but by Sunday evening the subject matter was a little more serious like hopes and fears… and desires.

And by that question, Castiel, who was already in bed ready to sleep so he’d be fresh-faced for this new job, couldn’t sleep after that. Not until he texted Dean back not asking, but telling him that they needed to meet in person ASAP. Dean had replied with a “LOL. Ok baby. How’s Wednesday night?” When Cas texted “Time? Place?” back, Dean did not disappoint, giving him the name of a bar to meet at after they got off work, which meant Dean wanted to meet Cas just as much as he wanted to meet Dean. Which in a small way gave Castiel comfort and a little bit of hope.

Enough of a hope to think that maybe someday, if whatever this was between he and Dean became something more and when he was feeling very loving and Gabriel wasn’t being a total ass, Cas might thank him for forcing him to play a video game with him.

But even though Cas had thoughts of what the future with Dean might bring, he tried to remain grounded and not let himself get carried away. Just because they had a good report and some tangible chemistry through texts and a computer game, it could end up being nothing when they finally met. Cas was going to be cautiously optimistic about this, even if he would secretly be counting down the hours until Wednesday night.

This was why he was glad that he had a job, even if it was probably going to be mind numbing, because at least he could keep busy instead of over thinking the not-yet-existent relationship with Dean. Castiel always threw himself into his work whatever it may be, and this would be no different. He wasn’t planning on getting himself distracted by his wishful thinking of Dean or anyone else around him for that matter.

And it was with that thought that he walked up to the building of his new temporary job, purposefully ignoring the two men unloading computer equipment from a truck to the side of the entrance. He did not notice that one had a mullet and the other had a nice backside and that he wanted to see if he had a nice face too. He was there to work, and that was all. 

***

“Ash, we just got here, you can’t take a break now,” yelled Dean. Ash was sitting on the one box of equipment he had unloaded. “And get off that box; you can’t break it before we even get it in the building.”

“Man, I am the software guy. I know I look pretty muscular, but I am not cut out for this heavy-lifting,” Ash said without making any move from his perch.

“I sure as hell ain’t doing all this myself. Get off your ass and help.”

Ash sighed and painstakingly dragged himself off the box he was using as a seat and climbed back into the truck where Dean was pushing boxes to the edge, which Ash was supposed to unload.

“Here,” said Dean, handing Ash a box. “We’ll switch. You push all the boxes, and I’ll take them off the truck.”

“Fine,” said Ash, resigning himself to his fate. “Isn’t there some kind of machine that does this for us? Like a lift or a robot?”

“If we could afford that machine, then I’m sure we would’ve had it by now,” says Dean, rolling his eyes at Ash’s complaining. Ash might be a genius when it came to computers and software, but when it came time for the elbow grease he was always conveniently fresh out. Dean couldn’t stay mad long enough to do anything about it though because Ash was hilarious and kept things entertaining, giving Dean a crazy story to tell Sam about that’d have him laughing for days.

“You think Ellen’s holding out on us? She’s got some equipment unloading robot in some back closet somewhere?” asked Ash.

“Sure, Ash. Only she uses it to fetch her coffee and hand her files,” Dean remarked in a flat tone.

“I knew it!”

Dean snorted but continued removing the boxes from the edge of the truck and stacking them on the one dolly they had.

Ellen, a life-long family friend, owned an IT support consulting company and had immediately hired Dean when he heard he was moving in with Sam; she hadn’t cared that Dean knew next to nothing about computers at the time, at least not in comparison to Ash or Sam, and told him to shut up because he knew how to plug in a computer and she’d teach him the rest. As it turned out though, Dean wasn’t that bad at computers. He still wouldn’t qualify himself at the same level as Ash, hacker genius and software extraordinaire, but hours of gaming had clearly paid off for Dean.

Today they had a job with a big client who had hired them to help install brand new computers for the entire company, somewhere close to 1500 employees. Dean wasn’t sure what the company did, and really didn’t care, but he and Ash were going to be onsite for the whole week. They already had a system worked out; Dean would set up the computers, and Ash would come in after him installing the company’s requested applications.

Dean, learning from past experience, knew that most of the company’s employees would be ignoring them. No one ever liked the IT guys and most everyone thought computer installation was a mystery they wanted to stay away from, so Dean had come prepared. He had headphones and several of his favorite rock albums on his iPod to keep him focused, not to mention thoughts of his upcoming meeting with Cas.

He hadn’t told anyone about it. It wasn’t like he was purposefully trying to keep it a secret, but he liked the idea of just he and Cas starting this relationship in private, without having to worry about other people. He knew they wouldn’t be able to keep it secret for long if something more serious developed out of meeting Cas because Gabe was a sneaky prying bastard, and there was a reason he and Sam were kind of perfect for each other because he too figured things out before Dean could ever say anything.

Dean had told Cas that, and Cas had agreed, saying he’d prefer to keep their respective family members out of the loop if anything to avoid the eventual teasing for a while. Dean already felt like he and Cas fit together. Sam had been right when he said Cas was like him, and Dean had every confidence that when they did finally meet that it would just be the final piece to the puzzle. The one last hurdle they had to get past before they could declare that they liked each other and wanted to pursue this thing together, which made Dean rather excited at the thought. He knew he was already falling for Cas, something he had tried so hard to keep himself from doing, and he got the feeling that when the time came and they met on Wednesday, it wouldn’t take much for him to fall harder right into love.

He was positive that he didn’t even really care what Cas looked like. Yes, physical attraction was important, but somehow Dean just knew that Castiel probably wouldn’t have a problem in that department. He’d been in the military right? They had to stay fit and trained and stuff, and Dean couldn’t deny that he was probably going to end up fantasizing what Cas looked like in a uniform once he could have a face to go with it. Maybe he could convince Cas to put it on for him someday.

Over the weekend he had wondered if he should ask Cas for a picture for that reason alone, but then he was worried it would come off as shallow. He didn’t want Cas to think that he cared about that kind of thing, and Cas never asked him for one, so he never brought it up. He may have tried to imagine what Cas looked like several times before, creating a mental picture of someone that could possibly match the sexy voice that Dean loved: someone built and muscular, but not too bulky, but someone who had years of military training under his belt with the physique to prove it; someone who looked mature and older because of Cas’s deep voice. Dean tried to remember that Cas probably looked nothing like the person he had created in his head, but he needed something besides a voice to fantasize about sometimes. Man, it really needed to be Wednesday because Dean wasn’t sure how much longer he could take without knowing exactly what Castiel looked like.

“Earth to Dean!” shouted Ash as he waved a hand in front of Dean’s face.

“Huh?” said Dean, shaking his head as if that would keep his thoughts of Cas at bay.

“Your dolly’s pretty full, dude. You should probably start wheeling it inside, now,” remarked Ash, pointing down to the stack of boxes Dean had been mindlessly piling up that was almost as tall as he was.

“Oh, um, right,” Dean muttered, taking off a few boxes from the stack so it’d be manageable again.

“You can daydream about me and my luscious locks on your own time,” Ash said, causing Dean to pull a face that was at first one of consideration that quickly turned to disgust. Ash laughed. “I’ll keep unloading; the lady at the front desk said she’d tell you where to start,” shouted Ash as he turned to jump back into the truck.

“Okay, I’ll be back.” Dean wheeled the stack to the building and inside the double doors.

After getting directions from the receptionist on where to put the boxes, Dean made his way there, passing a glassed in conference room, where one man in a tan trench coat, a suit coat and blue tie barely visible beneath, and dark, messy brown hair sat filling out paperwork. His head was down, so Dean didn’t really get a good look at him as he walked by the first time.

However, on his way back to the truck, his empty dolly in tow, Dean got a better view when the man looked up from his work to stare at Dean as he passed. Dean almost stopped in his tracks, but realized how stupid and incredibly creepy that would be to stare back like the dude was in a fishbowl, and continued on to the truck like he hadn’t noticed the guy in the room. The guy looked young and fairly lean and slender, well from what Dean could tell when only glancing at him for 5 seconds while the dude sat behind a desk.

On the second trip, Dean slowed down a little when he approached the conference room to get a better look. He could use the excuse that the equipment was heavy and difficult to push if anyone asked, but no one was paying him any attention. This time, the man was staring off into the distance like he was trying to remember something, and Dean noticed his piercing blue eyes and long eye lashes before he’d cleared the last glass panel of the conference room.

Dean quickly unloaded the boxes from his dolly a second time. The guy was striking and attractive, and Dean wanted to walk by to catch a glimpse of him as many times as he could without coming off as a creeper before the guy left or noticed him staring. When Dean walked back to the truck this time, the man was already looking at him through the glass, as if he was waiting for him to walk by; he’d probably heard his footsteps approaching. He and Dean locked eyes briefly, and the man gave Dean a small smile before Dean was no longer in sight.

And that smile kind of gave him goose bumps. Man, what was wrong with him? They were both supposed to be working. Although from anyone else it was just a friendly smile, and that’s probably what it was. Nothing worthy of Dean’s goose bumps. The guy was probably finding Dean walking back and forth in front of him annoying, but it’s not like Dean could do anything about that. And what was wrong with taking a gander every now and then at the handsome man as he moseyed on by? Dean might have been hung up on Cas, but there was nothing wrong with admiring beauty elsewhere. He probably wouldn’t even see this guy again, or if he did, they probably wouldn’t ever talk. No, Dean was being perfectly normal and rational about this. He was working and admiring the view and taking in his surroundings as he worked. Totally normal. 

***

As soon as Castiel had walked into the building, the secretary at the front desk had shoved him into a nearby conference room to fill out some “necessary paperwork” and sign a few things, apologizing for his soon to be manager for not being there yet because he was in a meeting and for any noises or distractions he heard because the company was receiving new computers that week.

By the time she came back to retrieve him, he was disappointed it was her and not the man he’d seen pass by the room a few times already. The man was handsome and tall, and his eyes were a brilliant shade of green. He seemed nice, and Castiel had to admit he wouldn’t mind getting to know him better.

 “I’m so sorry about leaving you in here! Crazy morning. Mr. Shurley, your boss, is still stuck in his meeting, so he asked me to show you to your cubicle. He said he’s left some training materials for you on your desk, so you can look over them while you wait,” she said, looking expectantly at Castiel.

Castiel stood up, but he almost wanted to tell her that it was fine, he could wait there till Mr. Shurley was ready because he really wanted to catch another glimpse of the man with the dolly again. But, he knew that would be incredibly unprofessional and rather childish, so he nodded and followed her out of the room.

As Castiel fell in step behind the woman, he tried to pay attention to what she was saying instead of thinking of the penetrating stare he had received from his mystery man. She was talking about the company and pointing out things like where the break room and restrooms were, leading him through various hallways and departments. He didn’t care about what the rest of the company did, since it wasn’t worth the effort to learn for a job that he was only going to be at for a few weeks. His ears perked up, however, when she mentioned the new computers again.

“How long will they be here installing computers?” Castiel asked, trying to make himself sound as disinterested and nonchalant as possible. He was making small talk, gathering information, that’s all.

“Oh, I think they’re supposed to be here the whole week. But don’t worry, we’ll warn you before they come to your department. I think the data entry people are scheduled for Wednesday.”

“Oh, okay. Good to know.”

“Yeah, I think we’re setting up a few conference rooms with laptops so that you can still work on things while they get everything set up,” she said, then stopped and turned toward Castiel. She leaned forward and held her hand up to her mouth and in a hushed whisper she said, “Although, between you and me, I wouldn’t mind if they took their time… that one bringing in the boxes was pretty cute.”

She smiled and Castiel tried to laugh at her comment, but for some reason he was feeling strangely jealous. Which was weird because the man was a complete stranger, and Cas even agreed with her, but he couldn’t help the slight bitterness at her comment. It wasn’t like he had a claim on him or anything, there was no reason for Castiel to feel the way he did.

Before he could think more about it, the woman stopped and gestured to a cubicle in front of her. “Here we are!” she said. Cas looked around at the department, and everyone else had their heads down, headphones in, and staring straight at the computers in front of them, the sound of typing loud in his ears. The cubicle the woman was pointing out appeared to be in use already. There was a nameplate already on it, and a plant sitting in the corner. As Castiel got closer, he was thankful there wasn’t other personal items like a family picture because he was already getting upset at what might have happened to the person that had occupied this cube until recently.

Noticing Castiel’s hesitation, the secretary made her apology. “Sorry, we don’t have a completely empty cubicle for you. The previous employee left kind of suddenly, and we didn’t have time to clear out all of his stuff.” She tried to take off the nameplate, but it was pretty stuck. “Umm, I can get a piece of paper and cover it up?”

“No, it’s fine. I understand. I’m only a temp; it’s not a big deal,” Castiel said, sitting down in the desk chair.

She made another apologetic face. “Mr. Shurley should be out of his meeting soon.” She pointed to a pile of papers on the desk. “I think those are what he left for you.” Castiel nodded, gathering the papers from the desk. “Well, if you have any questions, you know where to find me.” And as an afterthought before she started to walk away, she added, “Oh, and welcome!”

“Thank you,” Castiel said, but the woman had already turned away from him and was walking back the way they had come.

Castiel glanced around him once again, but none of his fellow co-workers paid him any attention. Looked like Cas was going to have to bring in his own headphones to keep himself engaged since he probably wasn’t going to get much interaction with those around him. For now, though, Castiel was going to have to keep himself occupied with his own thoughts, ones that may have involved a pair of bright green eyes, while he read over the papers he had been left.

But then he reminded himself of the promise not to get distracted, and he got mad at himself for letting his mind wander with thoughts about a total stranger instead of reading the packet in his hands. He told himself that earlier in the conference room had been okay since he was waiting for more instruction. But, now, he was at his desk with something to work on, and he needed to focus.

As the day wore on (after visiting with Mr. Shurley “Just call me Chuck,” who seemed like a very nice man, who showed Castiel what to do and left him alone after that), he tried to convince himself that he was hoping not to see the man again (he was there to work after all), but really that was a lie. Without headphones, Cas could hear everyone around him, and every time he heard footsteps approaching, he glanced up with the tiny hope it might be the computer guy. Of course, it never was, and Cas figured it was for the best.

He had thought of Dean instead, wondering what he was doing while Cas sat typing away at his computer. Dean hadn’t been specific about what he did, just said that the reason why he wouldn’t be able to meet with Cas sooner than Wednesday was because he was going to have to work late. Cas assumed that maybe Dean would rather not talk about his job or would want to tell him in person instead of over text, so he hadn’t pressed the issue. Cas hadn’t been specific about his job either, just telling Dean that the temp agency had found another one for him and he’d start on Monday. Thinking about Dean still qualified as a distraction, but at least he knew Dean’s name and more about him than just some guy with a pretty face that Cas was mildly attracted to.

When it was time for Cas to go home, he packed up what little he had brought with him and made a mental note to bring a few audiobooks to listen to the next day so he wouldn’t get his hopes up every time someone passed by his cubicle. He had made it the rest of the day without a glimpse of the IT guy and was now grateful for it.

Upon his arrival home, he had a text from Dean asking him how his first day went, and all thoughts of the man with the dolly were long forgotten and replaced with ones of Dean. Cas’s heart melted a little at the message, of Dean’s thoughtfulness in sending it to him and remembering about Cas’s job and seeing how he did. It had never been that way with Balthazar, the man he had to leave the service for, and he should have gotten a clue then.

Dean didn’t seem embarrassed about his feelings towards Cas; he openly flirted with him in front of his brother. And more importantly he cared about Cas even when it was as simple as how his day was. It was something that added more to Castiel’s hope that the relationship between he and Dean was becoming more solid and real.

Balthazar had always balked at any kind of open affection Castiel had shown, going as far as not even saying hi if there were other people around, which Cas assumed was because of their stations and the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy. But Balthazar had never hidden his flirtatiousness around anyone else, and it was always Castiel who had to keep himself in check. At the time, Castiel had ignored it, blinded by love maybe, but when Cas had put himself, his life, his career, on the line for that love, Balthazar had shown his true colors. By then though, it was too late, and Cas had lost everything.

Despite the thoughts of his past, Cas was beginning to think it was a good thing he had gotten out. He was starting fresh, and Dean was turning out to be someone that he truly cared for and had maybe even thought about a future with in the back of his mind. He and Dean had more in common than he and Balthazar ever had, and he realized now that what he had thought then was love with Balthy was lust and it was purely physical from Balthy’s end. It was good that he and Dean had started this without knowing what each other looked like because then Cas was sure they liked each other beyond physical attraction.

And when they finally met on Wednesday, Cas was confident that whatever Dean looked like, he was going to end up loving him. He was practically in love with him already. So when Cas texted Dean back to tell him of his rather boring day, he made no mention of the green-eyed computer guy he had seen. Why think about him when he had Dean?

*** 

Sam gave Dean a look of pure disbelief like his brother had grown two heads over night when Dean walked into the kitchen.

“What?” Dean asked as he put bread in the toaster and pulled a mug from the cupboard for coffee.

“Who are you and what have you done with my brother?”

Dean rolled his eyes. “Ha ha, Sam.”

“No really, Dean. Are you feeling all right? I mean it’s,” he turned his head to look at the clock, “six in the morning. You’re usually not even up yet by the time I leave for class at 7:30. And now you’re…” Sam gestured to all of Dean, still uncertain at what he was seeing.

Dean was standing before him, showered, clean-shaven, and wearing his best pair of jeans. And though he was in a T-shirt, he had brought in a nice button-down shirt (on a hanger no less), which he had hung on the back of one of the chairs when he had come in. Sam, who normally woke up at 5 for his usual morning run, was sitting at the table, still in his sweaty shorts and tank top, eating cereal before he took a shower. He and Dean had never eaten breakfast together on a weekday since they had been living together, and the fact that Dean was already showered and ready and looking like he actually gave a damn about his appearance, was a moment for the record books.

“Why?” was all Sam could mutter because his brain was still processing what he was seeing.

“I can get up early. It is something I am capable of,” Dean scoffed.

“Yeah, but… but why? Why today? What’s going on today? Is it some special holiday or anniversary I forgot about or something?”

“No, it’s Wednesday,” Dean muttered like Sam was the irrational one here.

“Wednesday,” Sam repeated. “Some kind of special Wednesday?” Sam’s eyebrows were raised, and Dean could tell from his tone of voice that Sam was trying to piece something together.

“Nope. I just figured I’d get an early start setting up computers today.”

“Uh yeah… okay,” Sam said, dragging out the last syllable because he was still suspicious and didn’t believe a word Dean was saying, but he was done with his cereal and felt gross and needed to shower. “Sorry I couldn’t help this week, I have that test and—“

Dean held up his hand. “Don’t worry about it, Sammy. Ellen understands, and besides Ash and I have a whole system going, so it’s working out fine.”

Sam nodded as he put his bowl and spoon into the dishwasher. “Oh, Gabe got back to me about the game. He said they’re opening sections of it slowly the rest of this week. It should be all up by Friday.” Dean nodded his acknowledgement as he pulled out a knife and the butter. Sam looked Dean up and down again and shook his head, “Okay, well have a good day then.”

“You too.” And before Sam had completely left the room, Dean added, “Oh, I’ll probably be home late again today too, so I can’t make dinner. But, I think there’s still some—“

“Dean, I’m not five. I can make dinner for myself.”

“Pop tarts are not dinner.”

“Bye, Dean!” Sam called out as he left, not wanting to continue this line of conversation with his brother.

Dean sighed, pulled out his toast, and started the coffee. The truth was it actually was kind of a special Wednesday. He was meeting Cas today, and the reason why he was up and ready so early was because he had been too nervous to sleep and at 4:30am had decided to screw it and go shower. He had then spent an hour standing in front of his closet trying to decide what to wear like he was a freakin’ girl. Even he was mad at himself for having stood there so long examining every pair of jeans he owned to see which ones were nice but didn’t look like he was trying too hard. He still had to go to work where he was going to be crawling on the floor and doing heavy lifting, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t try a little harder to look nice, right?

After settling on wearing a t-shirt and then bringing a shirt to change into after work, he then spent another 15 minutes picking what change of shirt and then ironing it. _Ironed it_ for crying out loud. He can’t even remember the last time he had bothered pulling out an ironing board and iron. The world had created Downy wrinkle-releaser spray for a reason; it was one of the great things about living in the 21 st century. But this was Cas, and even though they technically already knew each other, this was still their first meeting, and Dean really wanted to look good for his first impression.

He had even contemplated a blazer, but thought that might be a bit much, so hey, at least he wasn’t in complete loss of his faculties. They weren’t meeting at some fancy restaurant, but at a bar after work, specifically Fizzles, which sounded odd for a bar, but the owner was an odd guy so it fit. It had been the first place Dean had thought of, and Cas had been so eager to agree, that he hadn’t thought much of it after that. But now that Dean had an hour to kill, he remembered two things. Jo was working tonight, which could be good in that he might snooker some free drinks out of her or bad in that he was going to be in for a night of teasing and embarrassment. And Wednesdays were trivia night, which meant the bar was going to be packed.

He briefly contemplated texting Cas and telling him to meet somewhere else, but he thought it’d be too last minute and Cas might take it the wrong way, and man he really was a girl. Sitting here overanalyzing everything before he even did it. Nicholas Sparks should call him up because he could be the guy’s next character, his internal monologue was ripe for writing material. Finally deciding he had had enough of his brain and his thoughts, he left to go somewhere for breakfast. He actually had time this morning and could, and he deserved something more than just toast and the cheap coffee he and Sam had.

Turns out it was good he had that extra time to splurge on a prepared breakfast and designer coffee because when he and Ash walked to the area of the office where they’d be working in for most of the day, he spotted him: the guy he had been trying to check out on Monday morning.

Dean hadn’t seen him after that, not that he hadn’t tried, but he had no information about him except that he looked like sex on legs, which he was never going to utter out loud to anyone _ever_. And from what Dean could tell as he peered over the cubicle wall, today was no different.

The man’s hair was gelled in a way that made it look like he just had sex, and he was in a… Dean leaned around the corner further. Oh god, he was in a waistcoat. What kind of work did this man do that required him to look so damn fine while sitting in front of a computer _in a waistcoat_?! Ugh. Focus Dean. You got this. You’re there to install computers. Just look at the computers and think about how you’ll meet Cas soon. No, wait, don’t think about that cause you’ll freak out. Go back to the computers. Just computers.

Today was going to be long and tortuous. Torturously long. 

*** 

Castiel, having decided he needed to stretch after sitting at his desk for a good two hours before anyone else had shown up (he was only getting a head start on all the data entry not for any other reason, alright?), stood up and twisted his arms to the left and to the right only to promptly plop back down in his chair. To the right was the computer guy from Monday, and suddenly Cas remembered how they were coming through his department today. He really did not need this. He was already on edge because of his upcoming meeting with Dean, and he did not need this ~~eye candy~~ man ~~parading himself~~ unknowingly taunting him.

And the man looked good today, better than he had on Monday even. Cas ventured another look, sitting up a little taller in his seat to peer over his cubicle. He was rewarded for his efforts because just as he looked, the man had bent over to unplug a computer, and his ass filled out the jeans he was wearing nicely. Cas leaned back into his chair and let out a pained sigh.

“It’s only your third day, and you’re already groaning?” said someone behind him.

Cas bolted upright in his seat. “What? No. No I’m not…” Castiel turned to find his boss Chuck standing behind him with a mug of coffee in his hand.

Chuck laughed, “It’s alright. I understand.”

“No, I was thinking about something else. It’s not the job.”

Chuck shrugged, “It’s all good. This job can get to you sometimes.” Castiel just nodded not wanting to argue and because he could see the IT guy out of the corner of his eye glancing over at him. “Well, I just wanted to come by and say that you’re doing a great job. I’ve never had a temp work so hard. I was told you even came in early this morning, too. Be careful. If you keep that up, we might not let you leave.” Chuck laughed, and Cas just smiled. He wouldn’t mind it, he supposed. He wouldn’t have to worry about strictly budgeting his paycheck in case there was a lull between jobs, and he’d have somewhere to be everyday instead of sitting at home. It wasn’t the most exciting job in the world, but it was a job.

“Is that something that could be possible? I mean me staying on?” Castiel asked.

Chuck gave him a considering look. “I think so yes. We’ll have to discuss it again towards the end of your contract, but I don’t see it being a problem. I like you, Castiel. You seem like a nice guy.”

“Thank you, sir.”

“No sir, man! Just Chuck, remember?”

“Oh, right. Sorry.”

“The other reason I came by is that they are going to be replacing our computers today. I don’t think it’ll take too long, a couple hours at most, so we’ve got some laptops set up for you over there,” Chuck pointed to the conference room across the way where a few people were already settling in. “I believe they’ll be in our area at 10, so you’ve got some time still. I’ll let you guys know when they’re done.”

“You’re not going to be in the conference room with us?” Castiel asked.

“No, my computer was replaced already. Manager,” Chuck said grinning as he pointed to himself like he couldn’t believe he had the job he had and was a manager. “Anyway, keep up the good work!” He patted Castiel on the back and strolled back to his office.

Cas watched him go, which was a mistake because Chuck walked right by computer guy, who was most definitely staring at him. And smiling. And giving him a wave? Cas’s eyes widened at the gesture and slunk back in his chair low enough that he was no longer in view. That’s it. He didn’t care that he had a few minutes before the guy came over to replace his computer, he was leaving to go to that room full of laptops right now.

*** 

 _Oh my god, did I just wave?_ Dean thought as he stood there watching the retreating form of the man he was calling Blue Eyes in his head slink below the cubicle wall. What was he thinking? He was an idiot. And the way the man had reacted? He probably thought Dean was too. It seemed right for the moment, okay? They had both been making eyes at each other and that guy had smiled at him on Monday so it wasn’t like he found Dean repulsive or anything, and the dude was staring at him, and just… a wave seemed friendly. A nice, normal thing to do.

But now, Blue Eyes probably thought he was weird or a creep, and geez, Dean had never seen someone move so fast into a conference room. And of course the conference room was glassed in _again_ and it was right where Dean had to walk by to get the computers (talk about déjà vu). So he was going to have to keep seeing him and try not to stare because he honestly didn’t mean anything by the wave. Did he mention how this day was going to be horribly long?

Dean went back to unplugging computers because he was definitely still standing there starring at the guy as he set up shop and of course picked a laptop so that he was facing the glass panels. Really? The guy was just going to taunt him now by having his face visible and in clear view of Dean where he was inevitably going to see it and of course chance a look at him? The least he could have done was face the wall so Dean could stare at the back of his head without fear of a returning glare. But no, he was going to be looking out those stupid glass panels watching Dean work.

Okay, no, maybe he wasn’t. Dean realized he might have been giving himself too much credit. Blue Eyes was working, and he had more important things to do than watch Dean all day like he was a predator eyeing his prey. So the guy more than likely did not choose that seat purposefully, and Dean was thinking too highly of himself that he could distract someone important enough to wear a waistcoat to work with his shear awesomeness and manly physique. It still begged the question though, if he seemed so annoyed with Dean and his _purely innocent nonchalant_ wave, why had he picked a spot where he had a clear view of Dean? 

***

He was a masochist. That must be it.

At first to himself, Cas was claiming he had chosen the more comfortable looking chair (um they were all the same), that this laptop looked newer (again they were all the same), that this was the only available spot (not true there were two laptops across the table that faced the wall), that he wouldn’t disturb anyone if he sat here instead of there (no one had paid him any attention since he’d started working there why would now be any different?), that he…

_Fine._

So he did pick that seat on purpose because he wanted to watch Computer Guy bend down and stand back up. He _wanted_ to look up from his work to catch a glimpse of him walk by or lifting a monitor or lick his lips while he carried in computer after computer. It was a better view than the wall. It was like he was appreciating fine art or the horizon on a beautiful spring day. And Cas was only human. Why couldn’t he appreciate? No one else needed to know. And since he was safe behind glass, there was no chance of him doing anything more than that.

Ever since the guy had showed his damn beautiful face in Castiel’s life again, Cas was slowly giving up any pretenses he had about focusing on his work and not being distracted. He had been there two hours early, Cas justified to himself, he could afford to take his time, could afford to take a few breaks here and there, rest his eyes from staring at the bright screen.

And he did. Often.

He rested his eyes on Computer Guy while he knelt down to lift a monitor or position a computer in place. He watched as Computer Guy laughed at whatever the guy with the mullet said, admiring the way his eyes would crinkle in the corners when he did. He let his eyes linger over the man’s forearms as he carried boxes across the office, admiring the way his muscles flexed with the movement. Cas would chuckle to himself a little when Computer Guy would be bopping his head or shake his hips a little to whatever he was listening to in his headphones.

He couldn’t help that he would look up every time Computer Guy would walk by the room, and at first he only let it be a quick glance up, as if he was just seeing what the noise was that had pulled him away from his work. But every time he did, the other man would be looking at him too. They of course would both flick their eyes away as soon as they saw each other, like they hadn’t been staring at one another.

Slowly, their gazes became longer and less apologetic and embarrassed. Until the point where the last few times Computer Guy walked by he looked as if he wanted to come into the room but was stopping himself. Castiel wasn’t sure how he would have reacted if he had come in, but he’s not sure it would have been something he would have objected to. But at the same time, he knew it wouldn’t be a good idea, and maybe Computer Guy sensed that too, which is why he never came in. Ten minutes after their last longing stare, Cas was a little relieved and a tad disappointed when Chuck came in to tell them their new computers were ready and waiting for them. Relieved because now he could get back to work and not have to worry about Computer Guy, but disappointed because now he wouldn’t have to worry about Computer Guy.

Castiel knew it was silly to be hung up on someone he’d exchanged possibly meaningful stares with, but yet here he was. He tried his best to get back to his work, logging into his new computer and not thinking about who set it up and whose hands had put up the monitor and plugged in the computer. It seemed to work for a little while, not thinking about Computer Guy. The IT guys had moved onto another department, and there wasn’t even the chance of seeing him walk by again since the data entry department was a bit out of the way of normal traffic.

When mid-afternoon rolled around, Castiel had mostly forgotten about Computer Guy. He hadn’t seen him again, and he had gotten into a groove with his work and the audiobook he was listening to had been very engaging. He finished listening to the chapter he was on and then paused it, needing to stretch his legs and possibly grab a snack. It was when he got to the break room that he froze outside of it, peering into the glass windows (what was with this place and glass windows everywhere?) to find Computer Guy standing in front of the vending machine. 

*** 

Dean, rocking out to some AC/DC, was trying to decide if he wanted the Snickers or to spend a few more quarters on the apple fruit pie because he loved pie, but could he really trust it if it was from a vending machine? Ash had sent him on the snack run, and he could really use the break. He had almost made a complete fool of himself that morning with Blue Eyes, and he had chalked it up to lack of sleep and sugar. The rest of the day had been normal without another sign of Blue Eyes, which Dean had firmly decided was a good thing. The guy was hot, yes, but a stranger and if he kept it that way, that they were both strangers who admired each other from afar, then there was no way he could feel guilty about their interactions.

Having decided on Snickers, he turned a little to grab his wallet out of his back pocket and noticed someone out of the corner of his eye. He twisted around more only to see Blue Eyes staring at him. Talk about a role-reversal. Now Dean was the one in the glassed-in room, and his mind went blank. They locked eyes for a long moment, neither one moving and Dean didn’t quite know what to do. Was the guy going to come in? Was he waiting for Dean to leave? Were they just going to stand there and stare at each other till the cows came home?

Dean opened his mouth like he was going to say something, although he had no clue what, and shuffled forward quickly as if to keep the other man from leaving or looking away. Except he was so busy staring at him that he didn’t see that a table and chairs were directly in front of him. He knocked into the chair hard, toppling over and landing with a thud to the floor. Dean wasn’t hurt, well not physically anyway, but his pride was definitely bruised. And he almost didn’t want to get up for fear that he would find Blue Eyes standing next to him, and Dean was afraid at what look he’d find there. Pity? Concern? Laughter? Part of him wished he could be left alone with his embarrassment and not see Blue Eyes at all.

When he had buoyed himself up enough to stand back up, he got his wish. Blue Eyes was gone, and instead, Ash was standing in the doorway shaking his head.

“You okay there, dude?” Ash asked, sidling closer to Dean with his hand out, ready in case Dean toppled over again.

Dean dusted his pants off and shoved the chair back under the table. “I’m fine,” he spitted out. He had wanted Blue Eyes not to be there right? Why was he so angry? He got what he wanted.

“You sure? Cause it seems to be trip and fall day.”

“What?” Dean asked confused, his anger subsiding a little. He’d only tripped just now; what the hell was Ash talking about?

“Yeah, right before I came in here, some dude tripped right outside just after you did. Good thing we don’t work here all the time. This place must have worker’s comp settlements up the wazzou!”

Had that been Blue Eyes? “What did he look like? Is he all right?” Dean frantically asked.

A little taken aback with Dean’s concern over some stranger, Ash answered slowly, “Well he said he was okay. He looked more embarrassed than anything. But uh… he had a vest thing on and brown hair, crazy blue eyes. I mean like crazy blue like they must have been contacts or something.”

“And he said he was fine?” Dean wanted to be reassured that he didn’t accidentally cause bodily harm to the guy he’d been making eyes at.

“Yeah. You I’m not so sure about. Maybe you hit your head too hard there.” Ash turned so his back was facing Dean. “How many gorgeous mullet tails do you see?”

Dean rolled his eyes and shoved Ash out of his way. “Get your own snack. I’m going back to the truck to wait.”

“You’re going to make me finish by myself?”

“Yes.”

“Man, you’re lucky I feel sorry for you and your possible concussion, or else I’d put up more of a fight.”

“Thanks,” Dean said and held up his hand as a goodbye as he left the room.

When he got back to the truck and sat there a little, Dean felt better. He was still humiliated about falling, but knowing that Blue Eyes had fallen as well in what Dean assumed was his attempt to help him set him at ease. They had both made a fool of themselves in front of and because of complete strangers, and that made Dean feel a kind of bond with the guy. Although, the guy was probably going to avoid him like the plague now, especially if he had been as embarrassed as Ash said he was. But, at least if Dean ever did see him again, he’d be more understanding instead of angry about the guy not helping him. Maybe it’d be something they could laugh together over? Maybe.

As Dean waited for Ash to come back, his thoughts gradually turned to what was happening that evening, and by the time he and Ash were back at the office to drop off the truck, he had worked himself up into nervousness again. If he had tripped over a chair in front of a stranger, what the hell was going to happen when he finally met Cas? Was he going to spill everything all over himself? Miss the bar stool and land on the floor? Forget about Jo teasing him, Dean could do enough damage on his own.

He quickly changed into his other shirt and stood in the bathroom at his office for a long while fixing his hair and trying to give himself a pep talk. He could do this. He and Cas were already friends; it wasn’t going to be awkward meeting him. It was going to be great and fun and not uncomfortable at all. He continued repeating this to himself as he drove over to the bar. He was half an hour early from when he told Cas to meet him, so he sat down at the bar to talk with Jo for a little bit and warn her about not making things weird or bringing up any stories she knew about him. When it got closer to their agreed meeting time, Dean decided he would send Cas a text telling him he was there and where he was sitting. The bar was already filling up with people getting off work, though, so he hoped it wouldn’t be too difficult for Cas to find him among them.

*** 

Cas had shown up at the bar a good forty minutes before his and Dean’s meeting time, not that he was in the bar because he was too busy having what he thought was close to a panic attack in his car. This day had been weird and embarrassing, and he was worried that the trend was going to continue. After falling over himself to try to help Computer Guy doing the same thing, he had rushed back to his cube and vowed not to get up until he had to leave work and not look at anyone when he left. He hadn’t seen Computer Guy again, and he was worried what would happen when he did. The guy probably thought he was rude for not checking on him, but his mulleted co-worker was already swooping in, and Cas’s only thought had been to leave to save face.

Now he was fidgeting in his car thinking up worse case scenarios of what could happen once he entered the bar. It was almost like an internal war. He’d imagine a horrible sequence of events when he met Dean and then convince himself that wouldn’t happen, he could handle it, only to imagine another one. It was a vicious cycle. Finally deciding he was only making things worse for himself, Cas went into the bar, thinking Dean probably wouldn’t make a big deal if he got a head start on drinking because he needed it.

The bar was rather crowded when he walked in, but Castiel pushed past the people and upon spotting an opening at the bar, snagged it. As he waited for the bartender to come over to him, he took a moment to pull out his phone. He hadn’t received anything from Dean, yet, and it was still early, so Cas decided to wait before he let Dean know he was there.

“What can I get for you, hon?” the bartender asked as she approached Cas, her long blonde pony tail swishing back and forth.

“I’ll have a pint of whatever’s on tap,” Cas said.  The bartender nodded her acknowledgement, turning to get Cas his drink.

When she moved out of his eyeline, Castiel saw Computer Guy sitting a few seats down the bar.

_Computer Guy._

And it was definitely him. He was wearing a different, nicer shirt now, but Cas wasn’t going to be forgetting those green eyes and smattering of freckles anytime soon.

This was definitely not one of the worse case scenarios he had thought of. He shrunk in his seat holding up his hand to hide his face in the hopes Computer Guy wouldn’t see him. The bartender set Cas’s drink down, gave him an odd look, but didn’t say anything, for which Cas was appreciative. When she moved on to another person, Cas’s phone buzzed with a text from Dean saying he was there. _Thank god_ , Cas thought. The sooner he found Dean, the sooner he could get away from Computer Guy to save himself from any more humiliation.

Just as he was about to text Dean back, he heard Dean’s name from the bartender. He quickly scanned the crowd to see whom she was speaking to.

“Dean, how long are you going to sit there fretting before you text him?” she called over her shoulder.

“I just texted him, okay?”

“Good. You are not allowed to leave until I meet him.”

“Shouldn’t you be working, Jo?”

The bartender, Jo, stuck her tongue out to the man she had been addressing, and Cas’s mouth fell open. She was most definitely talking to Computer Guy and calling him Dean, and Cas was a twisted knot of thoughts and emotion.

Computer Guy _was_ Dean. _Dean_ was Computer Guy. He had been eye-fucking Dean at work, and with this realization Cas didn’t know whether to jump for joy and relief or shrink even further into himself. Surely this was a good thing, right? He already liked Dean and thought Computer Guy was attractive, and now that they were one in the same, it was almost like a dream come true, right?

With his phone still in his hand, Cas hesitated, unsure whether to just walk up to the man he now knew was Dean, or to wait till Dean figured out that he was Cas. And then Castiel got a great idea that Gabriel would be proud of. He was going to have a little fun. He texted Dean.

_Cas: This place is pretty crowded._

_Dean: Yeah, srry bout that. I 4got they have trivia on Weds._

_Cas: There are some very attractive men here. How will I know which one you are?_

Cas looked up at Dean to see his reaction to the text. Dean glanced around the room, turning a little in his seat to survey it. His lips curled in a smile as he went back to his phone.

_Dean: True, but Im the 1 sitting @ the bar._

_Cas: You’re at the bar? I think I found someone that looks pretty hot, but he’s not at the bar. I think I’ll ask him his name, though._

_Dean: Ha ha, funny Cas. Just come over 2 the bar. I’m wearing jeans & a button-down._

_Cas: I’m going to ask him. He seems nice._

Cas snickered after he’d sent the text. He wouldn’t keep this up for much longer, but Dean’s reactions to his texts were very amusing. Once Dean had read the last text, Cas could tell Dean was getting uncomfortable. He was looking all around him, sitting higher in his seat to peer over the people around him. When Dean leaned forward, Cas realized Dean had noticed him, well he didn’t know it was Cas, yet, but Dean noticed the man he had seen at work. This could be interesting.

_Dean: Fine. Maybe I’ve found someone else to introduce myself to as well._

_Cas: Oh really?_

Cas stood up and made his way over to Dean.

_Dean: Yeah, in fact he’s coming 2 me._

_Dean: Ur missing ur chance at this greatness, Cas._

Castiel came up behind Dean, who was still typing on his phone, and leaned into his space to place his own phone on the counter next to Dean. His phone buzzed on the counter, Dean’s latest text on the screen. Dean whipped his head around, and his eyes widened as he looked down at the phone and back up to Castiel.

“Cas?” he asked, his eyebrows raised, his eyes huge with surprise.

Castiel smiled. “Hello, Dean.”

*** 

The sky was a midnight blue as Dean pulled his Impala into its usual parking space in front of he and Sam’s apartment. It was only 10pm, but both he and Cas had called it a night after realizing they had both got next to no sleep the night before because of their nerves. Dean was on cloud nine after finally meeting Cas and realizing he was also Blue Eyes. They’d only talked all evening, laughing about what had happened to them earlier that day. And when they said goodbye, Castiel had asked Dean to have lunch with him at work the next day. Dean hadn’t stopped smiling the whole drive back home, and he was convinced nothing could bring him down.

He had spoken too soon.

When he opened the door, he found Sam sitting in the living room, a brown-haired girl sitting next to him. And when he ventured closer, Dean recognized the girl. She wasn’t wearing her guild T-shirt, but it was her.

Meg from the Devil’s Advocates was lounging on his couch in the middle of his living room.

“Sam? What the hell is she doing here?”

“It’s nice to see you, too,” Meg muttered with a huff.

Sam looked up to Dean, his face a picture of innocence. Dean raised his eyebrows as if to say, “you still haven’t answered my question, so don’t play innocent with me.” Sam frowned a little at the look, and patted at the spot on the couch next to him. Dean rolled his eyes, but complied, taking a seat next to Sam, his eyes flicking back and forth between his brother and Meg. What was going on?

Sam, at last, spoke up, “Ok, so get this.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this chapter is VERY light on the gaming, but heavy on the Dean/Cas fluffy meeting-ness, so I hope you guys are okay with that. Also I'm SORRY it's so long. I was not expecting it to be this length, but I kind of like it and tried to cut as much as I could, so hopefully you don't hate me with how long this is (and is turning out to be as a whole).
> 
> I have one more chapter that is going to be full of gaming goodness and then a cutesy fluffy epilogue. I'm still working out details for the last chapter though, so again, I make no promise on when I get it posted, but I'll try my best to finish it as soon as I can.
> 
> Also, I forgot to mention last chapter that most of the screen names of the Devil's Advocates, as well as Team Free Win and their screen names were thought up by [weekendship](http://weekendship.tumblr.com/) and my wonderful beta [Fea](http://castielsangelpeen.tumblr.com/) reads all of my things and helps me and encourages me and is all around awesome (this chapter especially she helped a TON).
> 
> Feel free to complain, bug me, get updates, or just say hello on [my tumblr](http://literaryoblivion.tumblr.com).

**Author's Note:**

> This story (and opening scene) was inspired by [this fanart](http://weekendship.tumblr.com/post/44470830732/deans-not-bad-gabe-is-just-better-and-castiel), and because the artist really liked [my tags](http://literaryoblivion.tumblr.com/post/44479924133/ladydrace-weekendship-deans-not-bad-gabe) when I reblogged it, I had to write it! The usernames for Dean and Cas were taken from [this fanart](http://ask-teamfreewin.tumblr.com/post/45078557635/i-would-definitely-regret-this-later) (which I just now realized was drawn by the same person as the first one! How fortuitous is that!).
> 
> There might be more to this, as I kind of want to write Dean and Cas actually meeting, but I'm not sure how just yet, so we'll just have to wait and see.
> 
> Come say hello on [my Tumblr](http://literaryoblivion.tumblr.com/)!


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